Effects of reaction conditions on the production of alcohols (AOH
s) and alkanes (Alk) from CO and H
2, which can be obtained from the gasification of biomass, using a molybdenum sulfide (MoS
2)-based catalyst of MoS
2/γ-Al
2O
3 were studied. A high-pressure fixed packed bed (HPFPB) was employed to carry out the reaction. The results indicate that the conversion of CO (X
CO) and specific production rates of alcohol (SPR
AOH) and alkane (SPR
Alk) are highly depended on temperature (T). In T = 423–573 K, maximum yield of alcohols (Y
AOH) and SPR
AOH occur at T = 523 K. In the meantime, well performance gives the selectivity of ethanol (S
EtOH) of 52.0 C%. For the studies on varying H
2/CO mole ratio (M
H/C) from 1 to 4 at 523 K, the appropriate M
H/C to produce EtOH is 2, giving higher ratios of SPR
AOH/SPR
Alk and Y
AOH/Y
Alk than those with other M
H/C. As for varying the total gas flow rates (Q
G) of 300, 450, 600 to 900 cm
3 min
−1 tested at T = 523 K and M
H/C = 2, the lower QG provides longer reaction time (or gaseous retention time, t
R) thus offering higher X
CO, however lower productivity. For setting pressure (P
ST) = 225–540 psi, a supply of higher pressure is equivalent to providing a larger amount of reactants into the reaction system, this thus suggests the use of higher P
ST should give both higher X
CO and productivity. The assessment of the above results indicates that the MoS
2/γ-Al
2O
3 catalyst favors the production of alcohols over alkanes, especially for ethanol. The information obtained is useful for the proper utilization of biomass derived gases of CO and H2.
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