Linear α-alcohols production from supercritical ethanol over Cu/Al2O3 catalyst

Highlights: • The selectivity of the formation of linear α-alcohols from ethanol was 98.4%. • Ethanol conversion and 1-butanol selectivity increased in supercritical regime. • Ethanol conversion decreases proportionately to water content in feeding mixture. • Kinetic parameters of the ethanol self condensation were determined. -- Abstract: In this paper, Cu/Al₂O₃ catalysts with different metal loadings was applied for the direct ethanol conversion into linear α-alcohols in the supercritical regime. 5% Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst was found to provide ethanol conversion into 1-butanol, 1-hexanol and 1-octanol with 80.2% selectivity of 1-butanol or total selectivity of linear α-alcohols of 95.5 at 33.5% conversion of ethanol. The supercritical conditions allow to increase catalysts productivity in comparison with subcritical regime. Kinetic features of the reaction and the effect of water content in the feed mixture were investigated.