Abstract
This review reports recent achievements in dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis via CO2 hydrogenation. This gas-phase process could be considered as a promising alternative for carbon dioxide recycling toward a (bio)fuel as DME. In this view, the production of DME from catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 appears as a technology able to face also the ever-increasing demand for alternative, environmentally-friendly fuels and energy carriers. Basic considerations on thermodynamic aspects controlling DME production from CO2 are presented along with a survey of the most innovative catalytic systems developed in this field. During the last years, special attention has been paid to the role of zeolite-based catalysts, either in the methanol-to-DME dehydration step or in the one-pot CO2-to-DME hydrogenation. Overall, the productivity of DME was shown to be dependent on several catalyst features, related not only to the metal-oxide phase—responsible for CO2 activation/hydrogenation—but also to specific properties of the zeolites (i.e., topology, porosity, specific surface area, acidity, interaction with active metals, distributions of metal particles, …) influencing activity and stability of hybridized bifunctional heterogeneous catalysts. All these aspects are discussed in details, summarizing recent achievements in this research field.
Highlights
How Can CO2 Become the Future Carbon Source?Carbon dioxide is recognized as the main responsible of the super green-house effect, causing global warming and climate change
CO2 -to-dimethyl ether (DME) process, this paper focus on the critical evaluation of proposed catalytic systems, paying particular attention to the effects of both physicochemical properties on redox/acid functions and preparation method on catalytic performance of hybrid catalyst, emphasizing on the potential of zeolites as efficient acid catalysts for methanol dehydration step
Zeolites are unique materials with huge catalytic potential in several industrial processes, recently generating great research interest as dehydration components in the synthesis of DME, starting from methanol, but even from CO2 -rich streams recycled for hydrogenation
Summary
Carbon dioxide is recognized as the main responsible of the super green-house effect, causing global warming and climate change. The future perspectives of carbon dioxide emissions reduction will concern the development of more efficient CCS technologies but will involve new strategies development for CO2 recycling to energy vectors and chemical intermediates. In this concern, the conversion of CO2 to dimethyl ether (DME) has received renewed attention since DME can be used as an intermediate to produce several value-added products (gasoline, aromatics and olefin) or as an alternative fuel as detailed below [5]. (e) Reuse the carbon dioxide from eco-friendly combustion of DME to re-produce itself
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