Synthesis of methanol over Pd promoted by ceria

Carbon monoxide and H-2 were allowed to react to produce methanol over Pd catalyst, and the effect of the supports was investigated. Among the supports examined, oxides of lanthanide such as La2O3, PT6O11, Sm2O3, Gd2O3, and Dy2O3 exhibited considerable performance for the synthesis of methanol at low temperatures (250 - 300 degrees C). The behavior of CeO2 was peculiar in activating Pd remarkably, while the selectivity to methanol was low and the main product was methane. In order to take advantage of the feature of CeO2, Pd was loaded on basic supports (ZnO, MgO, and TiBaO3) and a small amount of CeO2 was added. These CeO2-promoted Pd catalysts exhibited high performance to produce methanol at low temperatures.