Rate measurement by pulse technique for individual steps involved in CO hydrogenation and its application to catalyst design

By using pulse reaction technique, the rates were measured for the individual steps involved in CO hydrogenation over transition metal catalysts with and without promoters. On all the transition metals other than Rh, the rate constant for the dissociation of C-O bond (k₁) was much smaller than that for the hydrogenation of surface carbon species (k₂). The oxides of V, Nb, Mo, and W added to Ru/Al₂O₃ increasedk₁ and decreasedk₃. The Rh catalyst was unique in the sense that there was not much difference betweenk₁ andk₂. The characteristic feature observed was found to be useful in designing a catalyst for the production of liquid fuel or C₂-oxygenates from syngas.