Mathematical modeling the methanol production process for direct CO2 hydrogenation over a gallium (Ga3Ni5) catalyst

Carbon capture and utilization as a raw material for methanol production is a good option for addressing environmental, energy and global warming problems. However, commercial methanol synthesis processes have poor performance due to high water production during the process, oxidation and inactivation of the catalyst, and low CO2 conversion. To overcome these barriers, in this study, an efficient process consisting of Ga3Ni5 catalyst for direct CO2 hydrogenation is modeled. Synthesis equations and reaction rate constants, adsorption equilibrium constants and reaction equilibrium constants were used to model the methanol production process in the vicinity of the Ga3Ni5 catalyst using MATLAB software. In the new process, in order to increase safety and control process costs, the process pressure was reduced from 76.98 bar to 2 bar, on the other hand, the water produced as the poisoning agent of Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst is significantly ineffective in this configuration. The results show that Ga3Ni5 catalyst increases the conversion rate of carbon dioxide to methanol by about 13.75% compared to Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst. The proposed catalyst is an active and stable catalyst for methanol pro-duction that can compete with the traditional synthesis process.

Automated summary

In this study, a simulation was conducted to model an efficient process for direct CO2 hydrogenation to produce methanol using Ga3Ni5 catalyst. The results showed that the Ga3Ni5 catalyst had a conversion rate of carbon dioxide to methanol that was 13.75% higher compared to the traditional Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst. Therefore, this new catalyst has the potential to replace the traditional synthesis process.