Thermo-Catalytic Conversion of CO-rich Syngas to Methanol in Slurry Reactor Venue: Thursday, 23rd November 2023, at 4 pm at Chemical Engineering Department seminar room.
Venue: Microsoft Teams meeting link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YjFlMWI5NjYtMjJhZi00NzRlLWFkZWMtMGFjMzk0OWRjMzgy%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22624d5c4b-45c5-4122-8cd0-44f0f84e945d%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2227eacade-d678-4620-91bf-eb4f0025b6ef%22%7d
Abstract: Large-scale industrial processes’ essential commodity are heterogenous catalysts providing significant economic benefits by production of the value-added chemicals like methanol, a crucial building block for petrochemical industries and in various applications. The formulation of the catalysts and processes are necessary to tackle energy demand and to combat the climatic emergency by research in the urgency of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The two of the SDGs are SDG-7 i.e., ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’ and SDG-13 i.e., ‘Climate Action’ implying three major concerns about reduction of the CO2 emissions, closing the anthropogenic CO2 cycle, and Alternatives of the fossil fuels. The conversion of CO2 is of utmost importance; however, the pure CO2 feed conversion is quite tricky because of the higher activation barrier and stable CO2 molecules. Moreover, the CO2 co-fed syngas could be a solution for closing the anthropogenic CO2 cycle and forming C1 chemicals which is one way of CO2 utilization. Additionally, the CO2 co-feeding with syngas increases the activity. The methanol is produced industrially in the fixed bed reactor (FBR) at 200-300 °C and 50-100 bar with CuZnOAl2O3 catalyst. The catalysts deactivate mainly because of sintering and coke formation by the excess heat and inefficient temperature control in the FBRs[8]. The disadvantages of the FBR are eliminated by the slurry reactors by maintaining the isothermal condition and decreasing the catalyst deactivation. In this regard, the investigation was performed to elucidate the role of solvent, basicity, defect sites on the combustion induced lab synthesized Cu based catalyst and performance test in the stirred tank slurry reactor. The experimental results validated by theoretical results revealing the role of moderate polarity in CO hydrogenation. Multicomponent Cu-based catalysts with ZnO, MgO, CeO2 were prepared by the solvent combustion method and activity test was performed for CO, CO2 and mixed feed hydrogenation to methanol. The promotional effect of ZnO, CeO2, and MgO on the physicochemical, structural properties, and its correlation with the catalytic activity in the slurry reactor were analyzed. The CuMgCe showed higher conversion (49.8%), methanol selectivity (95%), and STY 646 gMeOH/kgcat-h-1 methanol was achieved and increased to 5% by methanol-assisted synthesis. Moreover, the promotional role of CeO2 on CuZnMg catalyst revealed the higher TOF and stability in comparison to the CuMgCe. The DFT and in-situ DRIFTS studies were performed for the microlevel studies and reaction mechanism. The CuMgO and CuCeO2 was found to be more active for CO and CO2 hydrogenation, respectively. Altogether, the effect of defectsites, basicity, and tuning the properties by the effect of supports is the key to enhance the methanol yield. Keywords: Defect sites, Basicity, DRIFTS, CO and CO2 activation, Solvent effect