Methanol production by reduction of formic acid over Cu catalyst under hydrothermal conditions

In this paper, a two-step process for converting carbon dioxide into methanol was established, consisting of conversion of carbon dioxide into formic acid and formic acid into methanol by hydrothermal treatment. For our previous studies has investigated the reduction of carbon dioxide to formic acid under hydrothermal conditions, the focus of this paper was set on the reduction of formic acid into methanol. The synthesis of methanol was examined by varying the following parameters: amount of Cu as catalyst, pH of the reagent, amount of Zn as reductant, reaction time and so on. The highest yield of 27.8% was achieved. The results indicated that Zn or Al was able to reduce formic acid to methanol more efficiently than other metal reductants. It was also found out that the addition of acid or alkali was not favorable for the synthesis of methanol.