Linear α-alcohols production from supercritical ethanol over Cu/Al2O3 catalyst

In this paper, Cu/Al2O3 catalysts with different metal loadings was applied for the direct ethanol conversion into linear alpha-alcohols in the supercritical regime. 5% Cu/Al2O3 catalyst was found to provide ethanol conversion into 1-butanol, 1-hexanol and 1-octanol with 80.2% selectivity of 1-butanol or total selectivity of linear alpha-alcohols of 95.5 at 33.5% conversion of ethanol. The supercritical conditions allow to increase catalysts productivity in comparison with subcritical regime. Kinetic features of the reaction and the effect of water content in the feed mixture were investigated. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.