Development of Hydrogenation Catalysts in Coal-derived Syngas to Ethanol Conversion Processes

The development of hydrogenation catalysts is the most challenging step in the newly proposed multi-step coal to ethanol catalytic conversion technologies. Novel nano-scale metal catalysts (Pt-based and Cu-based) are synthesized and show high conversion and selectivity for acetic acid, acetic ester, and oxalic ester hydrogenation to ethanol.