The gradual depletion
of oil resources and the necessity to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions portray a concerning image of our contemporary
security of liquid transportation fuels in the event of a global crisis.
Despite a vast amount of natural gas resources that we have and the
huge economic incentive, the conversion of gas to liquid fuels or
chemicals is still very limited because of the high technological
complexity and capital cost for facilities. However, with the anticipated
depletion of liquid petroleum and the soaring price of crude oil,
the conversion of natural gas to liquid feedstock or fuels will become
more and more important. Higher alcohols are important feedstocks
for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and have wide applications
as potential fuel additives or hydrogen carriers for fuel cells for
clean energy delivery. There is a long-standing interest in the synthesis
of higher alcohols from syngas, an important Fischer–Tropsch
technology for natural gas conversion. The purpose of this review
is to provide readers with an extensive account of catalytic synthesis
of higher alcohols from syngas using various catalysts reviewed from
a unique perspective: clarification of the active centers and reaction
pathways. In light of the different sources providing the active centers,
three major classes of catalysts in terms of monometallic, bimetallic,
and trimetallic/multimetallic catalysts are systematically reviewed,
and their respective performances are carefully compared. Finally,
future works proposed to improve the catalyst design are described.
In this work, microwave (MW) irradiation was used to activate Co/Al2O3, Mo/Al2O3, and Co–Mo/Al2O3 catalysts for dry reforming of methane (DRM) reactions.
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