Review of Methanol Synthesis, Proposal of Production Mechanism Based on Colloidal Suspension Potential and DFT Method

Methanol is one of the most common chemical compounds in petrochemical industries. It is used as a fuel that is economical and has less pollution. Methanol can be converted into ether, olefin, polymer, acetic acid, vinyl acetate, etc. compounds. In this research, at first the methods of producing methane gas as the initial material of methanol, then the methods of producing methanol from carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane were investigated. The synthesis of methanol from methane is carried out under thermal and radiation of light waves conditions. Which requires a temperature above 200 °C and high pressure. Various catalysts were used to adjust the reaction conditions, and that the best catalyst is copper metal derivatives. By using optimized catalysts, the formation of by-products were minimized. Also, by recording the potential spectrum of the colloidal suspension and using the density functional theory method, a mechanism for methanol production was proposed.