• • W80-Al2O3, prepared via water bath at 80 °C, achieves 100% CH3SH conversion and a CH4 yield of 1326 μmol·g−1, outperforming conventional Al2O3 (56 μmol·g−1) and W-Al2O3 (54 μmol·g−1) by over 20-fold, demonstrating a scalable route for simultaneous pollutant removal and resource recovery.
• • The catalyst exhibits a uniform specific surface area of 150 m2·g−1 and pore size of 12 nm, ensuring consistent active site distribution; this textural stability is critical for industrial fixed-bed reactors where mass transfer and pressure drop must be controlled.
• • The highest proportion of μ1-type hydroxyl coordination in W80-Al2O3 enhances Brønsted acidity and CO adsorption, directly promoting CO hydrogenation to CH4; this mechanistic insight enables rational design of acid–base bifunctional catalysts for SSCE processes.
• • The water-bath synthesis method is simple, cost-effective, and reproducible, offering a practical alternative to complex templating or solvothermal routes; this operational simplicity is essential for scale-up and commercial deployment in environmental catalysis.