Methanol Synthesis

The synthesis of Methanol is important and known, They Use in many Chemical product also an
efficient transportation fuel.
From synthesis gas, Carbon monoxide and hydrogen react over a catalyst to produce methanol.
Today, the most widely used catalyst is a mixture of copper and zinc oxides.
CO + 2 H2 → CH3OH

Alternative to synthesis gas, methanol can be produced by directly hydrogenating pure CO2 with
H2 with high selectivity on conventional Cu/ZnO-based catalysts, However, the reaction rates
are lower than with synthesis gas feeds

Equations (3) and (2) represent the exothermic hydrogenation of CO2 and CO to methanol, and
Equation (1) represents the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction that is activated by the copper-based
methanol synthesis catalysts. As Reactions (3) and (2) are exothermic and result in a reduction of
molar volume, methanol synthesis is favoured at low temperatures and high pressures. However,
sufficiently fast reaction kinetics requires temperatures above 200 ◦C, and methanol conversion
is thus limited by the thermodynamic equilibrium.