Methanol from Synthesis Gas over Copper and Zinc Oxide

Methanol is made from carbon monoxide and hydrogen over a catalyst of copper and zinc oxides on alumina, at 5–10 MPa and about 250 °C: CO + 2 H2 → CH3OH, with more than 99.8 % selectivity. This low-pressure route came from ICI in the 1960s; BASF's first plant (1923) needed 250–350 atm. The picture: our diagram of the loop.