Higher Alcohols from Syngas with Graphite Oxide Modified CuFeMn Catalyst with Low CO2 Selectivity

The reasonable conversion of renewable resources such as biomass to fuels and chemical materials is vital important section for the natural carbon cycle and the effective solution for sustainable use of our planet’s resources. The process of syngas (from biomass gasification) to higher alcohols is an atomic efficiency reaction pathway and it attracts extensively attention with great potential applications and significance in science. The formation of CO2 during syngas conversion reaction in industrial scale is undesirable considering the less utilization value and greenhouse effect of CO2. In this work, we have prepared four catalysts with active components CuFeMn and support graphite oxide (GO) by traditional immersion preparation method. The introduction of GO improved the hydrophobic property of the catalyst. The H2O-TPD test confirmed that the GO modified catalyst performed a weaker water adsorption capacity than unmodified catalyst CuFeMn. Thus, the transfer rate of H2O on the modified catalyst surface increased and the residence time of H2O on the catalyst surface was greatly shortened. The undesired reaction of water-gas shift was suppressed and the CO2 formation was mainly limited in the catalyst surface during the syngas to higher alcohols reaction process. In addition, the effect of the amount of added GO was investigated and the catalyst CuFeMn-GO0.2-AR was found to exhibit the great performance for syngas to higher alcohols reactions.