Study of carbon monoxide hydrogenation over Au supported on zinc oxide catalysts

Recently, there has been a marked increase in the interest shown in catalysis by gold. It is now recognised that gold has unique properties as a catalyst for many reactions with pre-eminence in the oxidation of carbon monoxide. However, it is also possible that supported gold catalysts can be used for other reactions involving carbon monoxide, for example the water gas shift reaction. Supported gold catalysts have also been shown to be effective for hydrogenation reactions. This paper sets out the possible use of gold as a catalyst for the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide. In particular, we describe the preparation and characterisation of Au/ZnO and Au/ZnO/Al2O 3 as catalysts for the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to methanol