Study on preparation of ordered mesoporous silica supported NiGaCo catalyst for conversion of carbon dioxide to methanol

Abstract

The paper reported preparation, characterization and application of novel ordered mesoporous silica supported NiGaCo catalyst in direct conversion of carbon dioxide to methanol. The catalyst was prepared by doping Ni2+, Ga3+ and Co2+ onto ordered mesoporous amorphous silica support (MSO) through wet impregnation–condensation method followed by calcination and reduction to transfer the metallic cation states to the alloy ones. The catalyst was assigned as NiGaCo/MSO, being prepared under conditions such as room temperature, time of 24 h, calcination at 600 °C for 6 h, and reduction in NaBH4/ethanol solution, and could be used for converting CO2 to methanol at low pressure. Investigations illustrated high activity of the catalyst at high pressure of 35 bars but at low pressure of 5 bar, the catalyst still showed considerable activity and selectivity. Many techniques were applied for the catalysis characterization including Small Angle X-Ray Diffraction (SAXRD), Wide Angle X-Ray Diffraction (WAXRD), Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Thermal Gravimetric–Differential Scanning Calorimetry–Mass Spectroscopy (TG–DSC–MS) and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Gas Chromatography (GC) coupled Thermal Conductivity Detector (TCD) and Flame Ionized Detector (FID) were used for determining the gas composition.