Seminar Abstract
October 8, 2003:
"Elementary Reaction Steps
in the Synthesis of Methanol"
Professor Uwe Burghaus
Department of Chemistry
North Dakota State University
Industrially, the most important catalyst for the synthesis of methanol
is a ternary Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 system, and the synthesis gas consists of CO,
CO2, and H2. Although detailed studies about methanol synthesis have
been conducted on metal surfaces for many years, even now little is
known about the kinetic and dynamic parameters, respectively,
characterizing the elementary reaction steps on metal oxide model
catalysts. Furthermore, almost nothing is known about the adsorption
structure of the participating reactant; i.e., the nature of the active
site is still not known. Therefore our methodology is to study the
adsorption kinetics, adsorption dynamics, and adsorption structure of
the reactants participating in the methanol synthesis reaction on single
crystal metal oxide surfaces relevant for the synthesis reaction. Two
examples might illustrate this approach: first, the adsorption of
hydrogen, and second, the adsorption of CO on ZnO. The systems have
mainly been investigated by means of molecular beam scattering
techniques accompanied by Monte Carlo simulations.
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