Abstract
CO2 hydrogenation to methanol is a promising environmental-friendly route for combatting CO2 emissions. Methanol can be used to produce a variety of chemicals and is also an alternative fuel. The CO2-to-methanol process is mostly studied over multi-component catalysts in which both metal and oxide phases are present. The difficulty in elucidating the influence of the different phases on the catalytic performance has led to intense debate about the nature of the active site. Consequently, the main stumbling blocks in developing rational design strategies are the complexity of the multi-component catalytic systems and challenges in elucidating the active sites. In this paper, we reviewed the most promising catalyst systems for the industrial CO2-to-methanol processes. Firstly, the copper-based catalysts are discussed. The focus is on the debate regarding the promotional effect of zinc, as well as other metal oxides typically employed to enhance the performance of copper-based catalysts. Other catalytic systems are then covered, which are mainly based on palladium and indium. Alloying and metal–metal oxide interaction also play a significant role in the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol over these catalysts. The purpose of this work is to give insight into these complex catalytic systems that can be utilized for advanced catalyst synthesis for the industrial CO2-to-methanol process.
Highlights
Environmental concerns on greenhouse gas emissions have led to a large interest in CO2 conversion and utilization from both academia and industry in the past decade
We reviewed the most promising catalyst systems for the industrial CO2-to-methanol processes
Zhao et al (2017) demonstrated that Ni–Cu/ Al2O3 prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) was significantly more active and selective in CO2 hydrogenation to methanol than the catalyst prepared by impregnation
Summary
Environmental concerns on greenhouse gas emissions have led to a large interest in CO2 conversion and utilization from both academia and industry in the past decade. The industrial implementation of CO2 hydrogenation to methanol has so far been limited This is mainly due to the higher costs associated with capturing CO2 and producing H2 from renewable energy compared to synthesis gas. A large Cu surface area is important to obtain high activity, but there are differences in intrinsic activity between Cu/ZnO-based catalysts with different preparation history This difference in the active site ‘‘quality’’ implies that the reaction is structure-sensitive over Cu/ZnO-based systems. The interaction between the catalyst’s components plays an important role in maximizing the catalytic performance of Cu-based systems. The key role of the metal–support interaction for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol has been demonstrated for other transition metal-based catalysts (i.e., Pd, Ni, Co). Elucidating the nature of the active site is important for the development of more effective catalysts, which can aid in commercializing the process and enhance its economic viability
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