Effect of glucose pretreatment on Cu–ZnO–Al(2)O(3) catalyzed CO(2) hydrogenation to methanol

A series of Cu–ZnO–Al(2)O(3) catalysts (CZA) were prepared by glucose pretreatment and applied for methanol synthesis from CO(2) hydrogenation. The advantages of the glucose pretreatment and the effects of glucose content were investigated by XRD, N(2) physisorption, SEM, N(2)O chemisorption, CO(2)-TPD, H(2)-TPR, TG, and XPS characterization techniques. The influence of glucose pretreatment on the average Cu particle size and the interaction between different components, as well as the effects of the amount of glucose on the Cu specific surface area, the ratio of Cu(0)/Cu(+) and the performance of the catalysts were discussed. The results showed that the catalysts prepared by glucose pretreatment increased the number of basic sites and had a significant advantage in methanol yield. The optimum content of glucose was beneficial to improve the catalytic performance of the CZA catalyst. The maximum space-time yield of methanol was obtained by 2 wt% glucose pretreatments at 200 °C, which was 57.0 g kg(−1) h(−1).