β-Mo2C/γ-Al2O3 catalyst for one step CO hydrogenation to produce alcohols

Direct hydrogenation of CO to alcohols through Fischer-Tropsch reaction process is taken great interest in recent years. In this study, a series of β-Mo 2 C/γ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst are prepared to investigate the influence of carbon and molybdenum precursor, calcination temperature, as well as the molar ratio of the carbon precursor to molybdenum precursor compounds on catalyst microstructures and the catalytic performance. The microstructure characteristics of the catalysts were examined with XRD, BET, ICP, SEM and CO-TPD. The performance test of the catalysts for syngas-to-alcohol was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor. Properly excessive amount of hexamethylenetetramine as carbon precursor calcined at a high temperature (≥700 ℃) favors the formation of high crystalline β-Mo 2 C on γ-Al 2 O 3 carrier. Catalysts with different amount of Mo were prepared to study the effect of active metal loading on microstructure and catalytic performance. The results show that the particle size of β-Mo 2 C and CO dissociation adsorption capacity, as well as the CO conversion increases with raised Mo loading. The selectivity of all higher alcohols reached the maximum when 25 % of Mo was loaded.