Cu-K/Al2O3 based catalysts for conversion of carbon dioxide to methane and carbon monoxide

Abstract

A series of Cu-K/Al2O3 catalysts were synthesized by wet impregnation technique. The reduced catalysts were further used for conversion of carbon dioxide to methane and carbon monoxide. Moreover, the fresh and used catalysts were characterized to investigate the changes in the surface morphology, metal dispersion, surface area, crystalline phases, and functional groups of studied catalysts. The SEM analysis of fresh and spent catalysts showed no remarkable difference in surface morphology with irregular shaped agglomerated particles. Furthermore, TEM micrographs presented the well distribution of metal catalyst over alumina support. The decrease in surface area from 115 to 77 m2/g for Cu1.62-K0.5/Al2O3 after reaction was related to sintering and oxidation of catalyst during reaction. XRD revealed the disappearance of some minor peaks which can be associated with the sintering of spent catalyst. FTIR also presented some new peak for spent catalyst which can be linked with metal oxides. Moreover, various reaction conditions of temperature (230, 400, and 600 °C), pressure (1 and 7 bar), and feed molar ratio of H2/CO2 (2:1 and 4:1) were investigated using different Cu loading (0, 1, 1.25, 1.62, and 4 weight percent). A maximum CO2 conversion of 63% with 39% CH4 selectivity was achieved by using Cu1.62-K0.5/Al2O3 at 600 °C, molar ratio of H2/CO2 4 under 7 bar. The presence of K on the surface of synthesized catalyst increased the CO2 conversion from 48% (Cu1/Al2O3) to 55% (Cu1-K0.5/Al2O3) at above mentioned reaction conditions which suggested the promoter effect of K during conversion of carbon dioxide.