The influence of Zn content in Cu/ZnO/SBA-15/kaolinite catalyst for methanol production by CO2 hydrogenation

Abstract

The capture and utilization of carbon dioxide (CO2) has been attracting increasing interest. Producing methanol from captured CO2 and renewable hydrogen is one promising route for CO2 utilization because it would introduce recycled carbon to a vast global fuels and chemicals market. It is known that the Cu or Pd based catalysts are highly active for methanol synthesis. In this study, Cu/ZnO/SBA-15/kaolinite catalysts were prepared with Zn loading varying – 2.4, 1.6 and 0.5 wt% – to find the optimum amount of Zn in this catalytic system. The catalysts have been characterized using XRD analysis, N2adsorption–desorption analysis and SEM-EDX analysis. The performance of catalysts was evaluated in a fixed-bed tubular micro-activity reactor at 20 bar 250 °C with H2to CO2 molar ratio 3 to 1. The activity tests showed that the amount of Zn loaded has a significant impact on methanol yield-catalysts with Zn loading 2.4 and 1.6 have approximately 1.7 times higher space–time yield of methanol than catalyst with Zn loading of 0.5 wt%.

Keywords

• Carbon dioxide
• Hydrogenation
• Nanocatalysts
• Methanol