The Promotional Effects of ZrO2 and Au on the CuZnO Catalyst Regarding the Durability and Activity of the Partial Oxidation of Methanol

The promoter ZrO2 was applied to prevent Cu crystallites from sintering over CZ (ca. Cu 30 wt.% and Zn 70 wt.%) under partial oxidation of the methanol (POM) reaction. Gold was selected to promote the performance of CZrZ (ca. Cu 31 wt.%, Zr 16 wt.%, and Zn 53 wt.%) catalyst to overcome a high ignition temperature of 175 °C and CO selectivity (SCO) (>10% at T. > 200 °C). Experimentally, the deactivation rate constant of A5CZrZ (ca. Au 5 wt.%, Cu 31 wt.%, Zr 17 wt.%, and Zn 47 wt.%) and CZrZ was 1.7 times better than A5CZ (ca. Au 5 wt.%, Cu 31 wt.%, and Zn 64 wt.%) and CZ. The methanol conversion of CZrZ and A5CZrZ catalysts was kept higher than 70% for 12 h in an accelerated aging process. Meanwhile, the Au prompted more methoxy species oxidizing to formate on Cu+-rich A5CZrZ surface at lower temperature, and also improved CO transfer from formate reacting with moveable oxygen to form CO2. The SCO can lower to ca. 6% at 200 °C after adding 3–5% of gold promoter. These features all prove that the CZ catalyst with ZrO2 and Au promoters could enhance catalytic activity, lower the SCO and ignition temperature, and maintain good durability in the POM reaction.