Influence of precipitation and aging temperature on the performance of CuO/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalyst for methanol synthesis in slurry reactor

The influence of the temperature of precipitation and aging on the performance of the CuO/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalyst used for methanol synthesis was studied in a slurry reactor. The catalysts and precursors were characterized through XRD, BET, FT-IR and XPS. The results show that the phases of the precursors are mainly consisted of malachite (Cu₂(CO₃)(OH)₂) and zinc malachite ((Cu,Zn)₂(CO₃)(OH)₂), the crystallinity degree of the precursor that precipitated at 70 ℃ and aged at 80 ℃ is proper, and the performance of the catalyst from the precursor is optimal, with its CuO phase dispersing homogeneously, the electron binding energy of Cu element shifting the largest and the electron binding energy of Zn element shifting the minimum. Its space time yield and deactivation rate reach 153.3 g/(kg_cat·h) and 1.44%/d respectively.