This award supports a visit by Dr. Glenn L. Schrader of Iowa State University to the University of New South Wales in Australia, to work with Dr. H.E. Curry-Hyde to provide new fundamental information concerning the mechanism of CO, CO2 and H2 conversion to methanol using novel Raney Cu-Zn catalysts. Despite the importance of methanol as a large- volume chemical intermediate--and the potentially enormous demand as an alternate liquid fuel or fuel additive--many uncertainties remain regarding the detailed catalytic mechanism for methanol synthesis. New fundamental information concerning the reaction pathway would lead to improved methanol catalysts and processes. The Australian researchers have discovered a unique series of highly active methanol catalysts based on a Raney-catalyst preparational technique. Two advanced spectroscopic techniques developed by the United States researchers for catalysts research--FTIR reflectance- absorbance spectroscopy (IRRAS) and laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS), including "surface-enhanced" approaches--will be used to examine Raney Cu-Zn catalysts which have been prepared, characterized, and evaluated for activity and selectivity by the Australian researchers. These studies will contribute new information concerning the nature of adsorption and reaction on methanol synthesis catalysts and will lead to a more fundamental understanding of the nature of the active sites. Specifically, the goals of these studies will be: (1) to determine the nature of CO2, CO, H2, and H2O adsorption of specific sites on the surfaces of the Raney Cu-Zn catalysts; (2) to examine the role of intermediates such as formates, formaldehyde, methoxy, or other surface species in methanol synthesis; and (3) to distinguish the differences in the mechanistic pathways for CO2 and CO conversion in methanol synthesis.
