Catalyst Development for CO2 Hydrogenation to Fuels

New active and selective catalyst compositions for the hydrogenation of CO2 to mainly fuel-type higher hydrocarbons were developed by application of an evolutionary strategy. It was shown that Fe and K supported on TiO2 and modified by Cu plus other modifiers resulted in highest selectivity for C5-C15 hydrocarbons at high degrees of CO2 conversion. Co containing catalysts were less suited since they produced methane and light hydrocarbons with high selectivities. A detailed study of reaction conditions showed that selected catalyst compositions were able to reach high CO2 conversion with still low selectivities to methane at higher reaction temperatures and a higher H2/CO2 ratio.