2020/02/11 by Jincan Kang, Shun He, Wei Zhou +5 · 3 citations
Chemical Engineering · Engineering · Materials Science · #Catalysis for Biomass Conversion #Catalysts for Methane Reforming #Catalytic Processes in Materials Science
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14672-8
openalex publication_date 2020/02/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract Synthesis of ethanol from non-petroleum carbon resources via syngas (a mixture of H 2 and CO) is an important but challenging research target. The current conversion of syngas to ethanol suffers from low selectivity or multiple processes with high energy consumption. Here, we report a high-selective conversion of syngas into ethanol by a triple tandem catalysis. An efficient trifunctional tandem system composed of potassium-modified ZnO–ZrO 2 , modified zeolite mordenite and Pt–Sn/SiC working compatibly in syngas stream in one reactor can afford ethanol with a selectivity of 90%. We demonstrate that the K + –ZnO–ZrO 2 catalyses syngas conversion to methanol and the mordenite with eight-membered ring channels functions for methanol carbonylation to acetic acid, which is then hydrogenated to ethanol over the Pt–Sn/SiC catalyst. The present work offers an effective methodology leading to high selective conversion by decoupling a single-catalyst-based complicated and uncontrollable reaction into well-controlled multi-steps in tandem in one reactor.