Title: Direct Conversion of Syngas into Methyl Acetate, Ethanol and Ethylene by Relay Catalysis via the Intermediate Dimethyl Ether（Very Important Paper）

Author: 

Wei Zhou, Dr. Jincan Kang, Dr. Kang Cheng, Shun He, Jiaqing Shi, Cheng Zhou, Prof. Dr. Qinghong Zhang,* Junchao Chen, Prof. Dr. Luming Peng, Prof. Dr. Mingshu Chen, Prof. Dr. Ye Wang*

Summary:

Selective conversion of syngas (CO/H2) into C2+ oxygenates is a highly attractive but challenging target. Herein, we report the direct conversion of syngas into methyl acetate (MA) by relay catalysis. MA can be formed at a lower temperature (ca. 473 K) using Cu‐Zn‐Al oxide/H‐ZSM‐5 and zeolite mordenite (H‐MOR) catalysts separated by quartz wool (denoted as Cu‐Zn‐Al/H‐ZSM‐5|H‐MOR) and also at higher temperatures (603–643 K) without significant deactivation using spinel‐structured ZnAl2O4|H‐MOR. The selectivity of MA and acetic acid (AA) reaches 87 % at a CO conversion of 11 % at 643 K. Dimethyl ether (DME) is the key intermediate and the carbonylation of DME results in MA with high selectivity. We found that the relay catalysis using ZnAl2O4|H‐MOR|ZnAl2O4gives ethanol as the major product, while ethylene is formed with a layer‐by‐layer ZnAl2O4|H‐MOR|ZnAl2O4|H‐MOR combination. Close proximity between ZnAl2O4 and H‐MOR increases ethylene selectivity to 65 %.

Full Link：https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anie.201807113