HYDROGENATION OF CO AND CO2 TOWARD METHANOL, ALCOHOLS AND HYDROCARBONS ON PROMOTED COPPER RARE-EARTH-OXIDES CATALYSTS

The recent development of a copper-rare earth oxid catalyst (Cu-La2Zr2 O7) with cubic pyrochlore structure allows to synthesize alcohols and hydrocarbons from CO + H-2 and CO2 + H-2 feeds. A good activity in met hanol synthesis is obtained by promoting the given catalysts by additi on of oxides, e.g., ZnO or ZrO2. C2+ alcohols and C2+ hydrocarbons are formed in the presence of a transition metal promotor like Co. Finall y, a composite catalyst prepared by mixing the Cu-La2Zr2O7 methanol ca talyst with a HY zeolite yields mainly C2+ hydrocarbons.