Characterization and testing of zinc copper-based catalysts supported on different metal oxides for carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methanol

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Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu | Master's thesis

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Date

2022-08-23

Department

Major/Subject

Chemical and Process Engineering

Mcode

CHEM3043

Degree programme

Master's Programme in Chemical, Biochemical and Materials Engineering

Language

en

Pages

99+9

Series

Abstract

Carbon dioxide emissions are one of the major causes of global climate change. In this regard, carbon dioxide conversion to methanol can serve as one of the promising solutions to mitigate climate change problems. This thesis aimed to screen different metal oxide supports such as ZrO2, 17%CeO2-ZrO2, 25%CeO2-ZrO2, 17%CeO2-5La2O3-ZrO2, Al2O3, Nb2O5 and TiO2 for their role in promoting the activity and selectivity of ZnCu-based catalyst for methanol synthesis from direct hydrogenation of carbon dioxide. The role of zinc oxide as a promoter on metal oxide supported copper catalyst was also explored. Recent progress in the development of metal oxide-supported zinc copper-based catalysts was presented and discussed in the literature review. In the experimental part of the thesis, characterization of catalysts was performed by hydrogen temperature programmed reduction and scanning transmission electron microscopy. The catalytic activity was measured in the continuous flow fixed bed reactor. Among different metal-oxide supported catalysts, ZrO2-supported ZnCu catalyst showed the highest methanol space time yield while TiO2-supported catalysts showed least methanol space time yield. The deposition of ZnO by atomic layer deposition on metal oxide supported copper catalysts showed positive influence on activity and selectivity of the catalysts. Based on the results of this thesis, zirconia support was the most promising among others for increasing activity and selectivity of the ZnCu-based catalyst. Further experiments are recommended to establish structure-activity relationship for ZnCu-based catalysts for their role towards CO2 hydrogenation.

Description

Supervisor

Puurunen, Riikka

Thesis advisor

Arandia, Aitor
Yim, Jihong

Keywords

CO2 conversion, methanol, zinc copper-based catalysts, metal-oxide supports

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Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202208285213

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[dipl] Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu / CHEM