Methanol synthesis from CO<sub>2</sub> using Ni and Cu supported Fe catalytic system: Understanding the role of nonthermal plasma surface discharge
Nitesh Joshi, L. Sivachandiran
Abstract
Abstract The present study combines nonthermal plasma (NTP) and thermal catalysis to exploit the synergism for direct conversion of CO 2 to CH 3 OH using H 2 . Series of catalyst, that is, CuO/QW, NiO/QW, Fe 2 O 3 /QW, NiO/Fe 2 O 3 /QW, CuO/Fe 2 O 3 /QW have been tested for CO 2 conversion and CH 3 OH selectivity. And it was observed that 5 wt% CuO/Fe 2 O 3 /QW exhibited better CO 2 conversion and CH 3 OH selectivity as compared to other catalysts. With 5 wt% CuO/Fe 2 O 3 /QW, at 200°C and 2‐W NTP input power (100 ml/min feed flow and 1:3 ratio of CO 2 and H 2 ) about 16.7% CO 2 conversion and 32.7% CH 3 OH selectivity have been reached. Indeed, the highest of 9.32 mmol h −1 gcat −1 of CH 3 OH space‐time yield is obtained over CuO/Fe 2 O 3 /QW, which is about two times higher than the reported value in the literature (4.41 mmol h −1 gcat −1 of CH 3 OH using Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 , 30°C, feed flow 40 ml/min, and 30‐W input power).