Sulfur resistance of methanol synthesis from syngas over metalsupported catalysts

Supported metal catalysts for methanol synthesis from syngas was prepared by co-precipitation method and its sulfur resistance was studied . The experimental results show that Cu/ZnO exhibited the best methanol synthesis activity but deactivated quickly when sulfur-contaminated syngas was used. However, Pd/CeO₂ showed stable methanol synthesis activity in the sulfur-contaminated syngas. The characterization results indicate that the active components of Cu/ZnO reacted with H₂S in  syngas and deactivated the methanol synthesis catalayst. CeO₂ as support of Pd/CeO₂ could first react with H₂S in syngas and protected the metal active components, and further kept the stable methanol synthesis activity in the sulfur-contaminated syngas.