Green methanol for the circular economy: Researchers develop new catalyst

March 07, 2024

Researchers hope to produce the raw material methanol at the edge of a field or on the farm using renewable energy. In addition to wind or sun, water and CO₂ would be needed to produce the raw materials for the green methanol process: carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H₂), which react catalytically to form methanol.

This is made possible by a new catalyst developed in Rostock. A process based on this completely dispenses with fossil raw materials. And it is highly selective, producing virtually no by-products.

The catalyst is based on manganese, as Gordon Neitzel from the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT) explains, "The metal atom forms the catalytic center. It is fixed and protected by a kind of scaffold, the so-called ligand."

From:Phys.prg