Direct synthesis of dimethyl ether as a green fuel from syngas over nanostructured CuO–ZnO–Al2O3/HZSM-5 catalyst: Influence of irradiation time on nanocatalyst properties and catalytic performance

Abstract

CuO–ZnO–Al2O3/HZSM-5 (CZAZ) nanocatalyst is prepared by ultrasound-assisted co-precipitation method at different irradiation times, characterized and tested for direct synthesis of DME from syngas. Synthesized nanocatalysts were characterized using XRD, FESEM, PDS, EDX and BET techniques. Direct synthesis of DME is carried out at 200–300 °C and 10–40 bar using a mixture of CO:H2 = 2:1. The catalyst with the longest sonication time showed the smallest degree of aggregates, the highest dispersion and surface area. Although the long irradiated nanocatalyst has slightly bigger CuO crystal size but the size of particle aggregates was small and less populated. The sonicated catalyst with longest irradiation presented a high CO conversion of ca. 40%. It seems that, not the CuO crystal size but the size of particle aggregates and nanocatalyst surface had a great effect on the CZAZ nanocatalyst performance. While there was an optimal temperature for CO conversion and DME yield in direct synthesis of DME, both the CO conversion and the DME yield increased with the pressure increase. Long irradiated nanocatalyst yielded more stable CuO–ZnO–Al2O3/HZSM-5 nanocatalyst while conventional co-precipitated nanocatalyst lost its activity ca. 11% and 58% in terms of CO conversion and DME yield, respectively, in 24 h time on stream test.