Methanol synthesis is the formation of methanol from carbon oxides and hydrogen. It is catalysed by copper-zinc catalysts.

KATALCO^TM 51-series methanol synthesis catalysts are key to the methanol technologies offered by Johnson Matthey. KATALCO 51-1 and the LPM process revolutionised synthetic methanol productions in the 1960s and have provided the majority of the world's production ever since that time.

KATALCO 51-1 was the first three component methanol synthesis catalyst comprising zinc oxide and alumina as the support with copper as the active catalytic component. Over the years this series of catalyst has been developed to give increasing activity, selectivity and stability. Today a range of products including KATALCO 51-7, 51-8 and 51-9 have been developed for different methanol reactor duties. KATALCO 51-100 is the premier methanol synthesis product now available to the methanol market.