Continuous dimethyl carbonate synthesis from CO2 and methanol using Cu-Ni@VSiO as catalyst synthesized by a novel sulfuration method

Abstract

Conversion of carbon dioxide into useful chemicals is a valuable task. One way to perform it is to transform CO2 into dimethyl carbonate (DMC) by a reaction with methanol. Catalyst exerts significant impact on this process. During this work, Cu-Ni@VSiO bimetallic catalysts were successfully synthesized by traditional solution and novel sulfuration methods. The catalytic materials were characterized by several analytical techniques and were tested in a continuous fixed-bed reactor under different reaction conditions to promote DMC synthesis from CO2 and methanol in the absence of dehydrating agents. The effects of reaction temperature, pressure, space velocity, metal loading, and bulk density on the catalytic performance were investigated in detail. It was found that the activity of Cu-Ni@VSiO catalyst with the support obtained by the novel sulfuration method is about three times higher when compared to that of the catalyst with the support that is synthesized by the traditional solution method. This result may stem from the difference in microstructure of the studied catalytic materials.