A methanol-only route to acetic acid

The combination of a Pd/CeO2 catalyst for in situ generation of CO, via methanol decomposition, with a copper mordenite methanol carbonylation catalyst has been shown to be a successful strategy for the development of a methanol-only halide-free route to acetic acid. There is a pronounced dependence upon reactor bed configuration. A stacked bed, in which the Pd/CeO2 decomposition catalyst is placed upstream of the Cu-MOR carbonylation catalyst, exhibits a much greater acetyls yield than a physical mixture of the two catalysts. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.