The Influence of Mn, Zr and Pb Promoters on the Performance of Cu/ZnO/SBA-15 Catalyst for Hydrogenation of CO<sub>2</sub> to Methanol

Abstract

The present work investigates the hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol via a promoted Cu/ZnO/SBA-15 catalyst. In order to understand the effect of Mn, Zr and Pb promoters on the catalytic activity of Cu/Zn/SBA-15 catalysts, the hydrogenation of CO2 was performed in a stirred high-pressure reactor at 483K, 22.5bar, and a H2/CO2 ration of 3. The physicochemical properties of the catalysts were studied using N2 physical adsorption, TEM and H2-TPR. The characteristics of catalysts depended on the type of promoter and it influenced their catalytic performance. The Mn and Zr promoters resulted in a larger surface area of the catalyst and improved catalytic activity and methanol selectivity. However, an opposite effect was found for the Pb promoter. A 10% improvement on the CO2 conversion and 20% on the methanol selectivity was achieved due to the double promotion effect of Mn and Zr on Cu/ZnO-SBA-15 catalyst.