Carbon Dioxide reduction by non-equilibrium electrocatalysis plasma reactor

Abstract

A possible strategy to increase the added value from CCS, is to consider it as a raw material for the production of liquid fuels, or chemical products. The most studied ways related to CO2 reduction, with formation of molecules such as CH3OH or syngas, is the reaction with H2 (exothermic reaction needing catalytic activation), or CH4 (endothermic reaction taking place at high temperature) with the use of a catalyst. The synthesis of CH3OH is performed on Lewis acid type sites (default of electrons) Cu/Zn/Al2O3. However the products of the reaction i.e. the water and methanol molecules, are very polar, resulting in a very low desorption rate. So in this reaction the key step is water desorption (Lewis basis). The increase of temperature in order to increase this desorption rate, leads to a cracking and the deposition of carbon in the catalyst, limiting its lifetime. Plasma driven catalysis allows firstly, a vibrational activation of CO2, H2 or CH4 through electron-molecule collisions, making easier their dissociation at low temperature and secondly expels water from the catalyst sites by supplying electrons (electropolarisation). The results show an increase of the yield in CH3OH with plasma and catalyst, confirming the action of the plasma. However energy consumption remains relatively high.