Process research on the catalytic hydrogenation of methyl acetate to ethanol

Ethanol was synthesized by using methyl acetate as raw material,and copper-based catalyst(Cu-Zn-Al) was utilized in the hydrogenation process, products were analyzed qualitatively,quantitatively via gas chromatograph. The effects of reaction temperature,reaction pressure,the liquid hourly space velocity(LHSV) of methyl acetate,the molar ratio of hydrogen and methyl acetate and other factors on the conversion rate of feed methyl acetate and the selectivity of target product of ethanol were investigated respectively. The experimental results indicate that the optimal operating parameters are temperature of 240℃,pressure of 8MPa,LHSV of 1h-1,ratio of hydrogen and methyl acetate of 9∶1. Under the optimal condition,the conversion rate of methyl acetate is 95.5%,the selectivity of product ethanol is 94.6%. The equilibrium composition of liquid product is that methanol38.12%,ethanol 59.52%,methyl acetate 0.86%,and ethyl acetate 1.29%. As is shown by data that Cu-Zn-Al catalyst possesses high activity on carbonyl hydrogenation and good selectivity for ethanol,moreover it can inhibit the production of ethyl acetate.