Catalytic properties of Cu-Co catalysts supported on HNO3-pretreated CNTs for higher-alcohol synthesis

HNO3-pretreated CNTs were employed as supports, and a special ultrasound-assisted impregnation method was designed to prepare supported Cu-Co catalysts for higher-alcohol synthesis from syngas. The catalysts used in this work were characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption, TEM, XRD, H2-TPR, CO-TPD techniques. It was found that the pre-treatment procedure of CNTs remarkably promoted the catalytic properties of the Cu-Co/CNTs catalysts. For the Cu-Co catalyst supported on CNTs pre-treated by 68 wt% HNO3, some active components were introduced into the CNTs channels, their dispersions and the amount of strongly adsorbed CO-species were improved. The CO conversion and alcohol yield on the HNO3-pretreated Cu-Co/CNTs catalyst were increased by ~21% and ~69%, respectively, compared with those on the normal Cu-Co/CNTs catalyst.