ABSTRACT
Like the ammonia process, methanol synthesis was dependent on the development of an effective catalyst, but unlike the ammonia synthesis catalyst the methanol catalyst had to be selective as well as active. The catalyst used in the original methanol synthesis process was derived by empirical methods. The development work on methanol synthesis catalysts from 1920 to 1955 has been summarized by Natta. Zinc oxide alone was a good catalyst for methanol synthesis at high pressure and temperatures above 350°C, but it was not stable, and in use quickly lost its activity. The higher activity allows the use of lower process temperatures, so by-product formation is further decreased relative to methanol synthesis, because most of the parasitic reactions have higher activation energies. Rate equations have been derived giving methanol synthesis rate as a function of gas composition, pressure and temperature.
