Synthesis of acetic acid from ethanol–water mixture over Cu/ZnO–ZrO2–Al2O3 catalyst

•Acetic acid can be obtained from ethanol and water over the Cu/ZnO–ZrO2–Al2O3 catalyst at 250–320 °C.•Hydrogen is a co-product.•Space–time yield of acetic acid reaches to 9 mmol gcat−1 h−1 when processing 40–70 wt% ethanol solutions.

It was shown that acetic acid can be obtained from aqueous ethanol (6–40 mol%) solutions over Cu/ZnO–ZrO2–Al2O3 catalyst at 250–320 °C and atmospheric pressure. Selectivity of 80–90% and space-time yield of acetic acid up to 9 mmol gcat−1 h−1 at 60–80% ethanol conversion were obtained while processing 14–37 mol% aqueous ethanol solutions. Hydrogen was generated in an amount ~2 moles per 1 mole of acetic acid as a co-product.

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