Role of support on higher alcohol synthesis from syngas

• Nature of support in playing vital role in catalytic performance.
• Low coordinated oxygen atoms were observed with zinc supported catalyst.
• Cu–Co supported on ZnO has showed higher activity of 70% conversion with 70% higher alcohols selectivity.
• CO2 along with the feed increased the conversion and selectivity.

A series of Cu–Co based catalysts were prepared with different supports by co-precipitation method and well characterized by various physico-chemical methods such as N2 adsorption, XRD, TPR, TPD NH3, TGDTA, SEM and TEM. CO hydrogenation to higher alcohols were performed and found that zinc supported catalysts showed higher conversion (70%) and selectivity towards higher alcohols (70%). It was found that the addition of CO2 to syngas enhances the conversion and selectivity. It was considered that low coordinated oxygen atoms in case of zinc supported catalyst are responsible for the high activity compared to other catalysts. It was also found that the zinc supported Cu–Co catalyst has potential for the production of higher alcohols from syngas.

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