Effect of reaction conditions on the activity of novel carbon nanofiber-based Cu/ZrO2 catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol

Abstract

The increasing concentrations of CO2 in the environment result in catastrophic phenomena like global warming. Hydrogenation of emitted CO2 to methanol is one of the economically viable strategies to tackle the problem. In the current work, methanol synthesis by CO2 hydrogenation was studied over carbon nanofiber-based Cu/ZrO2 catalysts. The effect on rate of reaction by varying reaction temperature, reaction pressure, and feed gas ratio were investigated. Rate of reaction increased with increasing temperature and 220 °C was found as an optimum reaction temperature. The study revealed a linear relationship between the rate of reaction and applied pressure of the feed gases. The rate of reaction was accelerated by increasing feed gas ratio and the highest activity was recorded for H2/CO2= 3.