Reaction performance of a CuCr/CH3ONa catalyst for the low-temperature methanol synthesis was examined in a bubble column slurry reactor with a flash column (BCSR/FC). The BCSR/FC was operated at 4.5+/-0.2 MPa/110-120 degrees C for BCSR and 0.4+/-0.1 MPa/80-90 degrees C for FC, although fluctuation of operation parameters was larger. Syngas conversion decreased from 71.0% to 19.8% during the operation test in 100 h, which was attributed to consumption of CH3ONa and a negative effect of the emulsifier OP-10 used. (C) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.