Latest Progress on Research of Methanol Synthesis from CO2 Hydrogenation

Recently, Prof. Congming Li’s group from Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology at Taiyuan University of Technology reported the progress in the research of methanol synthesis from CO₂ hydrogenation. This work has recently been published as a research article in Journal of Catalysis (2019, 372: 163-173). The first author is Kuo Chen, a postgraduate student from Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology. Professor Congming Li is his supervisor and the corresponding author. Professor Zhong Li is a joint corresponding author.

Cu-based catalyst has become the most widely utilized catalyst for methanol synthesis via CO₂ hydrogenation. How to avoid or inhibit the agglomeration of copper particles to improve the stability of the catalyst is always a major challenge in practical heterogeneous catalytic reactions. The development of supported Cu-based catalysts to improve the dispersion of active components has attracted extensive attention due to its promising research prospects. Especially, silica is considered to be one of the most excellent catalyst supports because of its high surface area, which not only significantly promotes the dispersion of active component but also play vital roles in improving the adsorption of the reactants, surface reaction and the desorption of the products by interacting with the active component to some extent. However, the growth of copper particles originating from Ostwald ripening and/or migration and coalescence effect could not be effectively restrained because of the weak interaction between the silica support and Cu species, which will lead to the decline of exposed active sites or weaker synergistic effect between Cu species and promoters. As a result, the deactivation is inevitable. So, it is essential to develop a simple and direct method to prepare supported Cu-based catalyst with high activity, high stability and homogenously dispersed Cu species, which will be conducive to promote the practical process of supported catalysts.

In this work, a homogenously dispersed CuZnO/SiO₂ was successfully synthesized through a rotary-evaporation assisted deposited-precipitation method and it exhibited excellent catalytic performance on the synthesis of methanol from CO₂ hydrogenation. The results disclosed that metal particle size distribution of the Cu-based catalyst significantly impacted the catalytic activity and stability. Growth of particle from Ostwald ripening was evidently retarded by the narrower metal particle size distribution and therefore improved the catalytic stability was achieved. Furthermore, the preparation method and deactivation of the catalyst were discussed in detail. This study provides a new approach for preparing high activity, high stability and homo-dispersed supported catalyst, and also lays a methodological foundation for macro preparation of supported catalysts.

It is learned that the related research results have the independent intellectual property rights and has been applied for a Chinese invention patent (Application number: 201810801017.5，Public number: CN 108889303 A). This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province, China and the fund of State Key Laboratory of Catalysis in DICP, China.

Source: Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology