Synthesis of higher alcohols with cobalt and copper based model catalysts: Effect of the alkaline metals

Abstract

The synthesis of higher alcohols, obtained from CO hydrogenation over transition metals, is an alternative for the production of chemical commodities and less pollutant renewable fuels nowadays. In this work, the influence of different alkali metals (Li, Na, K, Cs) over the formation of active phases of supported catalysts, based on cobalt and copper, as well as the performance of these solids in the reaction of CO hydrogenation under a 50bar pressure were studied. The solids were prepared by continuous coprecipitation of sodium carbonate with metal nitrate solutions (Al-Co, Al-Cu or Al-Co-Cu) promoted with the alkali metals with dry impregnation. Characterization studies by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, BET, XPS and also the results of catalytic tests show that physico-chemical properties of the obtained catalyst are similar to those of the industrial catalyst used as reference (I).