Activity of Catalyst for Liquid Phase Methanol Synthesis

The effects of reduction procedure, reaction temperature and composition of feed gas on the activity of a CuO-ZnO-Al2O3 catalyst for liquid phase methanol synthesis were studied. An optimized procedure different from conventional ones was developed to obtain higher activity and better stability of-the catalyst. Both CO and CO2 in the feed gas were found to be necessary to maintain the activity of catalyst in the synthesis process. Reaction temperature was limited up to 523K, otherwise the catalyst will be deactivated rapidly. Experimental results show that the catalyst deactivation is caused by sintering and fouling, and the effects of CO and CO2 on the catalyst activity are also investigated. The experimental results indicate that the formation of water in the methanol synthesis is negligible when the feed gas contains both CO and CO2. The mechanism for liquid-phase methanol synthesis was discussed and it differed slightly from that for gas-phase synthesis

Catalytic and Noncatalytic Wet Oxidation of Formaldehyde. A Novel Kinetic Model

Formaldehyde is a carcinogen compound and one of the most important pollutants contained in wastewaters. Three different treatments were evaluated in a high-pressure batch reactor for the total organic carbon (TOC) degradation of formaldehyde solutions: thermolysis, noncatalytic wet oxidation, and catalytic wet oxidation over a CuO−ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst. The absence of the catalyst leads to a predominant induction period (30 min) without changes in TOC concentrations, while the catalytic treatment leads to significant enhancement in TOC reduction. In the catalytic experiments, an asymptotic behavior was observed with a final TOC reduction of approximately 80%, with the remaining nonoxidizable TOC being due to methanol, a refractory compound contained in the formaldehyde solution that is resistant to oxidation even with increasing temperature and pressure. Formic acid was identified as an intermediary compound, and a new kinetic model was developed, designed as the modified generalized kinetic model, to account for refractory and nonoxidizable compounds. Moreover, leaching of the catalyst in the liquid phase was not significant, and the carbon adsorption capacity was not detected