Preparation of nanostructured CuO/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalysts for the synthesis of methanol from syngas

In this work, the effect of surfactants on the catalytic properties of CuO/ZnO/Al₂O₃ (CZA) was studied for methanol synthesis via the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide. CZA catalysts were prepared by a co-precipitation method with various surfactants (tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) or cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)) and evaluated for the synthesis of methanol from syngas. CZA catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The results showed that the surfactants have significant influences on the morphology, crystalline structure, and surface area. Their catalytic activities for methanol synthesis from syngas (CO:H₂ = 1:2) were evaluated in a fixedbed reactor at 518 K and 45 bar. The as-synthesized CZA with CTAB exhibited higher reactivity in terms of the conversion and methanol space time yield (STY).