Higher alcohol synthesis over Cu-Fe composite oxides with high selectivity to C2+OH

Cu-Fe composite oxides were prepared by co-precipitation method and tested for higher alcohol synthesis from syngas. The selectivity to C2+OH and C6+OH in alcohol distribution was very high while the methane product fraction in hydrocarbon distribution was rather low, demonstrating a promising potential in higher alcohols synthesis from syngas. The distribution of alcohols and hydrocarbons approximately obeyed Anderson-Schulz-Flory distribution with similar chain growth probability, indicating alcohols and hydrocarbons derived from the same intermediates. The effects of Cu/Fe molar ratio, reaction temperature and gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) on catalytic performance were studied in detail. The sample with a Cu/Fe molar ratio of 10/1 exhibited the best catalytic performance. Higher reaction temperature accelerated water-gas-shift reaction and led to lower total alcohols selectivity. GHSV showed great effect on catalytic performance and higher GHSV increased the total alcohol selectivity, indicating there existed visible dehydration reaction of alcohol into hydrocarbon.