Sustainable process for the production of methanol from CO2 and H2 using Cu/ZnO-based multicomponent catalyst

We have performed R&D project on methanol synthesis from CO2 and hydrogen in order to contribute to CO2 mitigation. High-performance Cu/ZnO based multicomponent catalysts were developed. The roles of metal oxides contained in Cu/ZnO-based catalysts were classified into two categories: (1) Al2O3 or ZrO2 improves the dispersion of copper particles in the catalyst; (2) Ga2O3 or Cr2O3 increases the activity per unit copper surface area of the catalyst. The long-term stability of Cu/ZnO-based catalysts during methanol synthesis from CO2 and hydrogen was improved by adding a small amount of silica to the catalysts. Silica added to the catalysts suppressed the crystallization of ZnO contained in the catalysts. The catalysts were found to be highly active and extremely stable in methanol synthesis from CO2 and hydrogen. In the next step, a bench plant with a capacity of 50 kg day−1 of CH3OH, which was equipped with facilities for recycling unreacted gases and gaseous products, was successfully operated. The purity of crude methanol produced was 99.9 wt%, whereas the purity of crude methanol produced from syngas in a present-day commercial plant was reported as 99.6 wt%.