Methanol synthesis from syngas in a slurry reactor

A new catalyst (denoted LP201), which gives a high CO conversion without any decrease in activity in 1000 hr operation in a slurry reactor, was developed for the synthesis of methanol. The activity of the LP201 catalyst was much higher than that of the commercial C302 catalyst. The LP201 catalyst was suitable for the large scale synthesis of methanol in a slurry reactor. CO conversion increased monotonically with an increase in temperature. The surface structure of the deactivated catalyst was very different from the LP201 catalyst after reduction and before methanol synthesis and the change in the structure of the deactivated catalyst is irreversible. This suggested that an irreversible change in the structure of catalyst and carbon deposition during the gas-phase methanol synthesis led to the deactivation of the catalyst.