Effect of pressure on the mechanisms of the CO2/H2 reaction on a CO-precipitated CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst

The results reported by Liu et al indicate that methanol originates from the hydrogenation of both of the two carbon oxides

Rachid Sahki

2011

Carbon dioxide is accumulating more and more in the atmosphere and seems to participate to the so-called green-house effect
When the CO2/H2 mixture was fed over the catalyst, methanol was produced together with carbon monoxide and water
Through Fig. 1, carbon monoxide is predominant at low pressure, unlike methanol, which is favored at high pressure. This result shows that carbon dioxide is transformed into carbon monoxide at low pressure via the reverse water gas shift reaction occurring simultaneously with methanol formation over the Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst, or could be formed from methanol decomposition, whereas at high pressure CO2 is converted to methanol
Our results show a great influence of the operating pressure on the kinetics of the CO2/H2 reaction on CuO/Zno/Al2O3 catalysts
CO2 hydrogenation to methanol over M=O centers shows a consecutive pathway at low pressure and parallel pathway at high pressure
The thermodynamic analysis shows that the reaction of methanol formation from CO2 is favored at high pressure rather than the reverse water–gas shift reaction
The selectivity of methanol increases with the increase of pressure, suggesting that methanol is the primary product and is formed directly from CO2

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