Researchers now know more about the catalyst for the production of methanol

In Germany, a research team from the Ruhr University Bochum and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion showed for the first time that the zinc component of the active center is positively charged and that the catalyst even has two copper-based active centers, giving insight into methanol production.

“The condition of the zinc component at the active site has been the subject of controversy since the catalyst was introduced in the 1960s. From our findings we can now derive numerous ideas on how we can optimize the catalytic converter in the future”, summarizes Prof. Dr. Martin Muhler, Head of the Chair of Technical Chemistry at the RUB and Max Planck Fellow at the MPI CEC.

The work was embedded in the Carbon-2-Chem project, which aims to use steel mill gases from steel production for the production of chemicals and thus to reduce CO 2 emissions. Steel mill gases could also be used as a starting material for sustainable methanol synthesis, together with electrolytically produced hydrogen. As part of the Carbon-2-Chem project, the research team recently investigated how impurities in steel mill gases, such as those produced in the coking plant or blast furnace, affect the catalyst. This work finally made it possible to gain knowledge about the structure of the active center.