Promoting Effect of Admixed CexZr1-xO2with Cu-ZnO-Al2O3Methanol Synthesis Catalyst on Catalytic Performance: Influence of Ce/Zr Ratio

Methanol (MeOH) is widely used as a feedstock such as a basic chemical and an alternative fuel which is cleaner and more efficient in fuel cell applications.1 Commercially, MeOH is produced from synthesis gas (H 2 /CO/CO 2 ) using mainly Cu/ZnO based catalyst, 2 since zinc oxide has played an important role in modifying the electronic properties of metallic copper and results in changing the catalytic activity.3 To enhance the catalytic activity on MeOH synthesis, the selection of appropriate support not only provides a good configuration of active metals but also provides some function in modulating the interactions between the active components and support.Several types of supports such as silica, 4 zinc oxide 5,6 or fluorite-type oxides like ceria, zirconia and thoria 2 have been numerously investigated.In addition, CeO2-ZrO2 mixed oxide is widely used due to the improved characteristics of oxygen storage capacity of CeO2, redox property, thermal resistance and active metal dispersion for CO2 reforming with methane (CDR) reaction.7 Furthermore, Cu/ZnO based catalyst can be modified with various promoters to improve catalytic performance in MeOH synthesis reaction 8 and it is usually prepared by co-precipitation or impregnation method.9