Methanol catalyst development

Dimethyl Ether. Synthesis gas conversion to methanol is limited by equiUbrium. One way to increase conversion of synthesis gas is to remove product methanol from the equiUbrium as it is formed. Air Products and others have developed a process that accomplishes this objective by dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether [115-10-6]. Testing by Air Products at the pilot faciUty in LaPorte has demonstrated a 40% improvement in conversion. The reaction is similar to the Hquid-phase methanol process except that a soHd acid dehydration catalyst is added to the copper-based methanol catalyst slurried in an inert hydrocarbon Hquid (26). 

A fundamentally different reaction system is under development by Air Products and Chem Systems (23). In this system, synthesis gas is bubbled through a slurry consisting of micrometer-sized methanol catalyst particles suspended in a paraffinic mineral oil. The Hquid phase serves as the heat sink to remove the heat of reaction. 

The carbonylation of methanol was developed by Monsanto in the late 1960s. It is a large-scale operation employing a rhodium/iodide catalyst converting methanol and carbon monoxide into acetic acid. An older method involves the same carbonylation reaction carried out with a cobalt catalyst (see Section 9.3.2.4). For many years the Monsanto process has been the most attractive route for the preparation of acetic acid, but in recent years the iridium-based CATIVA process, developed by BP, has come on stream (see Section 9.3.2) ... 

Over the past 35 years, much has been learned about the electrooxidation of methanol on the surface of noble metals and metal alloys, in particular platinum and ruthenium [2, 4, 6, 7]. Significant overpotential losses occur in the reaction due to poisoning of the alloy catalyst surface by carbon monoxide. Yet, Pt-based metal alloys are still the most popular catalyst materials in the development of new fuel cell electrocatalysts, based on the expectation that a more CO-tolerant methanol catalyst will be developed. The vast ternary composition space beyond Pt-Ru catalysts has not been adequately explored. This section demonstrates how the ternary space can be explored using the high-throughput, electrocatalyst workflow described above. 

The thermodynamic equilibrium is most favourable at high pressure and low temperature. The methanol synthesis process was developed at the same time as NH3 synthesis. In the development of a commercial process for NH3 synthesis it was observed that, depending on the catalyst and reaction conditions, oxygenated products were formed as well. Compared with ammonia synthesis, catalyst development for methanol synthesis was more difficult because selectivity is crucial besides activity. In the CO hydrogenation other products can be formed, such as higher alcohols and hydrocarbons that are thermodynamically favoured. Figure 2.19 illustrates this. 

In this book we introduce major techniques used in designing and developing, roughly in the sequence in which they will be used. We show how techniques have been used (or could have been used) in a variety of products a laundry detergent, insulated windows, toothpaste, anti-fouling paint, an insulin injector, a powder coating, a box of matches, herbicide capsules, foamed snacks, a pharmaceutical tablet. Rockwool insulation, a ballpoint and a methanol catalyst. The authors have been involved in the development of several of these products. 

A far less selective synthesis for alcohols in the Ci -C range has been developed by Sugiei and Freund from IFF. A modified methanol catalyst is used and besides linear afcoltols, branched alcohols such as isopropano) and isobuianol are also found 11511. 

In the present study, a small scale test plant with a methanol production capacity of 50 kg/day has been designed and constructed in order to examine the performance of catalysts developed under practical reaction conditions, and to collect experimental data useful for designing a pilot plant in the future. 

Lee et al.(4,5,6) have studied the phenomenon of crystallite size growth and the post-treatment using carbon dioxide in Cu/ZnO-based methanol catalysts. They have concluded that the produced water is one of the most strongly suspected species promoting the crystallite size growth and the existence of ZnCO.3 slows down the rate of crystallite size growth in the liquid phase methanol synthesis. In the present study, novel catalysts with a long-term stability for the liquid-phase methanol synthesis process have been developed by the addition of hydrophobic materials. 

This survey focuses on recent catalyst developments in phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC), proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), and the previously mentioned direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). A PAFC operating at 160-220 °C uses orthophosphoric acid as the electrolyte the anode catalyst is Pt and the cathode can... 

A recent process development may lead to simplified plants for methanol manufacture from synthesis gas with a high carbon oxides to hydrogen ratio. Commercial methanol catalysts in fine powder form are suspended in inert mineral... 

In this study the steady-state kinetic model for the methanol synthesis on a commercial Cu/Zn0/Al203 catalyst developed by Vanden Bussche and Proment [13] are used. 

The methanol route is highly selective towards production of liquid transportation fuels. Only a very small amount of hydrocarbons beyond C are produced. The process uses a zeolite catalyst, developed by Mobil Research and Development Corp. (MRDC), USA. The final gasoline produced does not need further refining a nd attains the quality of unleaded premium gasoline. The world s first commercial synfuel plant for the production of gasoline from natural gas via methanol has been constructed in New Zealand and went successfully onstream in late 1985. The capacity is 570,000 tonnes of gasoline per year. The MTG reaction system is an adiabatic fixed bed version. 

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