Question

Methanol is industrially prepared by

• A. oxidation of $CH_4$ by steam at $900^{\circ}C$
• B. reduction of $HCHO$ using $LiAIH_4$
• C. reaction of $HCHO$ with a solution of $NaOH$
• D. reduction of $CO$ using $H_2$ and $ZnO-Cr_2O_3$

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

Methanol is prepared commercially from water gas which is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In this method, water gas is mixed with its half volume of hydrogen and is passed over heated $Cr _{2} O _{3}- ZnO$ catalyst at $673\, K$ under high pressure.
$CO +2 H _{2} \xrightarrow[673 K , \text { high pressure }]{ Cr _{2} O _{3}- ZnO } CH _{3} OH$