Back Cover: The Mechanism of CO and CO 2 Hydrogenation to Methanol over Cu‐Based Catalysts (ChemCatChem 7/2015)

Abstract

The cover picture shows four different pathways for methanol synthesis over Cu?based catalysts depending on the feed composition and the presence of the Zn?promoter. In their Full Paper, F. Studt et?al. present a DFT?based microkinetic model and consistent experimental data that explain the Janus?faced character of Cu in COx hydrogenation allowing only one path, CO or CO2 hydrogenation, to be effective at a time. The industrial Zn?promoter accelerates CO2 conversion over Cu/ZnO, but can simultaneously act as a poison for CO hydrogenation. On the other hand, CO2 in the feed was found to poison unpromoted catalysts such as Cu/MgO, which was highly efficient for CO hydrogenation. The article highlighted by this cover can be found on p.?1105?ff. of Issue 7, 2015.