CO₂ Hydrogenation to Methanol over In₂O₃ Decorated by Metals of the Iron Triad

Abstract

The growing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is a serious problem, and efforts to counter this issue are thus highly important. One of the possible approaches to solving this problem is the conversion of waste CO2 into products with added economic value. Methanol is one of these products with vast potential usage. In this study, indium oxide prepared by a simple precipitation method and modified by nanoparticles of metals from the iron triad were tested as possible catalysts to produce methanol by the method of CO2 hydrogenation. The prepared catalysts demonstrated a strong dependence of their catalytic activity on used metal. The best selectivity for the production of CH3OH was observed for the Fe/In2O3 catalyst at the value of 54.7% at 300 °C. However, due to the higher value of CO2 conversion, the highest CH3OH formation rate was observed at a value of 11.3 mmol/(h*g) at 300 °C for a composite of Ni/In2O3.

Keywords

• iron
• cobalt
• nickel
• indium(III) oxide
• methanol synthesis
• CO₂ hydrogenation