Green approach for sustainable production of paraffin fuel from CO2 hydrogenation on Fe-MOF catalyst

Abstract

With increasing global fuel demand, circular carbon economy and related carbon-neutral fuels are a cleaner way to reduce CO2 emissions significantly. Our work involves utilizing green hydrogen formed by water electrolysis and CO2 to produce paraffin hydrocarbon (up to C16) using a well-distributed and small particle size (∼3 nm) iron-based metal-organic framework (Fe-MOF) catalyst. The MIL-100(Fe) MOF precursor was synthesized with a green, cost-efficient, large-scale, and facile room temperature method. The highest CO2 conversion (44.1 %) and low CO selectivity (7.5 %) was attained at 340 °C and 30 bar. The paraffin hydrocarbon product (99 %, yielding 40.3 %) is composed mainly of natural gas (C1-C4) (90 %) and liquid fuel (10 %) in the gasoline range (C5-C12). However, adjusting conditions at 300 °C and 10 bar directed the liquid fuel to the kerosene range C5-C16 (11 %). The catalyst's capacity to function as an industrial catalyst was proved after more than 120 h on a continuous stream without sintering or deactivation. Compared to reference catalyst and earlier work, the unpromoted Fe-MOF-derived catalyst shows excellent potential for CO2 mitigation and production of combined gas and liquid alkane fuel.