Study On The Synthesis Of Ethanol From Syngas Over Cu/Zn/Al Catalysts Prepared By Complete Liquid-phase Technology

Energy is the material foundation of human society and economicdevelopment. However, with sustainable and high-speed development of theworld economy, problems such as energy shortage, environment pollution andecological deterioration have gradually deepened. The contradiction of energy isobvious between supply and demand. The current world energy consumption isgiven priority to fossil fuel such as coal, oil and natural gas. However, the fossilfuel is facing the situation of excessive consumption. As the result, it isnecessary to develop all kinds of substitutes for fossil fuel. As a clean, efficientand renewable liquid fuel, ethanol has received widespread attention ofresearchers. There are many methods for ethanol synthesis but differentsynthesis method has its own shortcomings. To cope with current energysituation of "Rich coal, lack oil, less gas", one of the most potential ways iscatalytic conversion from syngas which is derived from coal. Ethanol synthesisfrom syngas has opened a new way in clean coal technology development. It has broad market prospects, strategic significance and far-reaching effects onimproving energy security of our country. In our previous work, it has beenfound that Cu/Zn/Al catalyst prepared by complete liquid-phase method usedfor methanol synthesis has a certain capacity of ethanol synthesis. In this paper,the catalytic performance and the structure of Cu/Zn/Al catalyst modified byhydrolysis temperature and hydrolysis time of aluminium isopropoxide and thechanges of the amount of liquid paraffin are investigated. The catalysts arecharacterized by XRD, TPR, BET and XPS. The main research conclusions arelisted as follows:1. The changes of hydrolysis temperature and hydrolysis time ofaluminium isopropoxide and the changes of the amount of liquid paraffin in heattreatment process have great influence on the catalyst performance. When theaddition amount of liquid paraffin reaches200mL, the CO conversion reaches20.7%, the ethanol selectivity reaches4.1%.2. If a high temperature reduction peak exists and peak areas are large inthe H2-TPR profile, the ethanol selectivity will be higher. The temperature of thereduction peak performs a more significant role compared with peak areas.3. Textural properties of the catalysts have certain influence on the catalyticactivity, but it is not the main factors influencing the catalytic activity.