TITLE: Novel process for methanol synthesis. Progress report, December 1, 1990--February 28, 1991.

AUTHOR: J. W. Tierney;   I. Wender.

INST.  AUTHOR: Pittsburgh Univ., PA. Dept. of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  1991,  31p.

NTIS ORDER NO.: DE92001962INW

ABSTRACT:

A bench-scale reactor is being used to conduct studies of the conversion of synthesis gas to methanol by a novel process. During the last quarter, we provided evidence for a two step reaction in series as against the direct hydrogenation of CO. We believe that the carbonylation reaction takes place in the liquid phase adjacent to the solid catalyst surface while the hydrogenolysis reaction is restricted to the surface of Cu-chromite. A non-equilibrium film model was proposed to explain the unexpectedly high reaction rates and the increased tolerance of the process to CO. In this quarter, we looked at the effect of Cu-chromite loading and surface area. A Cu-chromite catalyst was synthesized in-house using a coprecipitation technique and its activity compared to a commercial catalyst. The effect of stirrer speed and feed flow rate on the rate of MeOH synthesis was also investigated. In the absence of mass transfer limitations, the rate of methanol synthesis (expressed per unit weight of the catalyst) varies with catalyst loading and feed flow rate.  It is likely that a deactivating species is generated in-situ or is present in the feed. 8 refs., 6 figs., 5 tabs.

REPORT  NUMBER: DOE/PC/89786-T3

CONTRACT  NUMBER: FG22-89PC89786