Structural Disorder of AlMg-Oxide Phase Supporting Cu/ZnO Catalyst Improves Efficiency and Selectivity for CO2 Hydrogenation to Methanol

The performance of the Cu/ZnO catalyst system with the AlMg-oxide phase is studied for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. The catalyst is prepared by thermal treatment of the hydrotalcite phase containing intimately mixed metal cations in the hydroxide form. CuO in the presence of ZnO and disordered AlMg-oxide phase gets easily reduced to Cu during the hydrogenation reaction. Its catalytic activity at relatively low Cu metal content (similar to 14 at.%) remains stable during 100 hours on stream at 260 degrees C with constant space-time yield for methanol (similar to 1.8 g(MeOH) g(cat)(-1) h(-1)) and high methanol selectivity (>85 %) The improved performance is attributed to the neutralization of surface acidity, increased number of weak basic sites in the disordered phase, and lower tendency for coke formation.

Automated summary

The performance of Cu/ZnO catalyst system with AlMg-oxide phase in CO2 hydrogenation to methanol was studied. The catalyst was prepared by thermal treatment of hydrotalcite phase with mixed metal cations. During the hydrogenation reaction, CuO in the presence of ZnO and disordered AlMg-oxide phase was easily reduced to Cu. The catalyst showed stable catalytic activity at relatively low Cu metal content (around 14 at.%) with constant space-time yield for methanol and high methanol selectivity (>85%).