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SPECTROSCOPY

Giving oxygenates a new spin

Nature Catalysis volume 5, pages 584–585 (2022)Cite this article

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Elucidating the reaction mechanism of a catalytic process is very challenging. Now, advanced solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiments demonstrate the importance of oxygenates to regulate the conversion of synthesis gas over an oxide–zeolite-based bifunctional catalyst material.

Synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is considered one of the important building blocks to make our future chemicals and fuels as it can be produced from almost any carbon source, including waste, biomass and natural gas1. Although historically, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis catalysts, based on iron and cobalt2,3, are used, oxide–zeolite-based bifunctional catalysts, coined as OXZEO materials, have more recently been explored as valuable composite materials to produce light olefins, long-chain hydrocarbons and aromatics from synthesis gas4,5. The emerging success of the OXZEO system is illustrated by among others, its industrial exploration at the Shaanxi China pilot plant facility4, but the mechanism behind this novel catalyst material remains elusive. It has been assumed to consist of two consecutive, but classical steps in which methanol is first synthesized on the oxide phase and subsequently converted into a variety of hydrocarbons according to the hydrocarbon pool (HCP) mechanism on the zeolite phase6. However, the presence of these HCP-type species in an OXZEO catalyst and their active involvement in the formation of, for example, light olefins and aromatics has not been experimentally proven.

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Fig. 1: Oxygenates detected during CO and H2 conversion over oxide–zeolite-based catalysts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NMR Spectroscopy, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

    Marc Baldus

  2. Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Department of Chemistry, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Bert M. Weckhuysen

Authors
  1. Marc Baldus
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  2. Bert M. Weckhuysen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Marc Baldus or Bert M. Weckhuysen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Baldus, M., Weckhuysen, B.M. Giving oxygenates a new spin. Nat Catal 5, 584–585 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00819-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00819-x

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