NEW METHOD IN CARBON DIOXIDE METHANATION

Global warming has been an important concern worldwide scenario. Greenhouse gases like CO₂ mainly contribute to the step-up in average global temperature. The scientists, attempts have been made to reduce the CO₂ content in the atmosphere [1]. The conversion of CO₂ to valuable chemicals such as CO, CH₄, and CH₃OH, has drawn great attention for use in supporting carbon capture and utilization (CCU). CO₂ was converted into methane at low temperatures with an electric ﬁeld (EF), which was reported in Chem. Lett. on January (2020) by Prof. Y Sekine and his team from Applied Chemistry, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. Results show that 5 wt%Ru/CeO₂ catalyst exhibited high and stable catalytic activity for CO₂ methanation with the electric ﬁeld [2]. Methane (CH₄) can be used not only as fuel but also as a hydrogen carrier via transportation in existing infrastructure for town gas. Especially in Germany, some plants have already been launched based on the concept of “Power to Gas” [3].

Figure 1. CO₂ methanation using Ru supported CeO₂ in an EF. Image credited to K. Yamada et al., from Waseda University, Japan.

The recent development in CO₂ methanation

The dissociation of CO₂ has a high activation barrier because of the high thermodynamic stability of CO₂. Recently, to decrease the reaction temperature, unconventional reaction systems such as electrocatalysis and photocatalysis have been applied intensively to CO₂ methanation.

K. Yamada et al., developed a new material such as Ru catalyst supported on CeO₂ have showed good activity for CO₂ methanation at low temperatures in an EF. Catalyst preparation was done by the impregnation method using (Ru(acac)₃) precursor and CeO₂ powder. They have also studied the role of EF in the reaction by comparison with some of the conventional (not imposing an EF) catalytic reaction.

Method of CO₂ methanation and activity tests

They have performed CO₂ methanation reactions and the activity tests for the evaluation of partial pressure eﬀects for CO₂ and H₂, the reactant feed gases in various H₂/CO₂ ratios were arranged to the total ﬂow rate of 200 SCCM by diluted Ar. Gaseous products including CO, CH₄, and CO₂ were analyzed using GC-FID (GC-14B; Shimadzu Corp.) equipped with a Porapak N packed column and a methanizer (Ru/Al₂O₃ catalyst). A cold trap was placed at the exit of the reactor to condense water formation. In this case they have calculated CO₂ conversion, CH₄ selectivity, and CO₂ consumption rate using the respective formula, which was mentioned in their research paper.

They have also used various supported metals for the CO₂ reduction reaction at the same reaction conditions. Results show that CO was formed over all the tested metal catalysts, whereas CH₄ was formed over Ru, Ni or Co supported catalysts. Especially, 5 wt% Ru/CeO₂ catalysts showed the highest CO₂ conversion and CH₄ selectivity (17.4% and 96.4%, respectively) among the tested metal catalysts. Lower Ru supported catalyst of 0.5 wt% Ru/CeO₂ show much low CH₄ selectivity than all other tested catalysts. Therefore, the previous catalyst (denoted as Ru/CeO₂) is a suitable catalyst for CO₂ methanation in EF.

On conclusions, Ru/CeO₂ catalyst exhibits high and stable activity for CO₂ methanation without the hindrance of CO adsorbed onto the Ru particle surface in EF at low temperature.

References

I. Sheedhar et al., Catal. Sci. Technol., 9, 4478 (2019).
K. Yamada et al., Chem. Lett. 49, 303 (2020).
M. Götz et al., Renew. Energy 85, 1371 (2016).

Blog Written By

Dr. A. S. Ganeshraja

Assistant Professor

National College, Tiruchirappalli

Tamil Nadu, India

Editors

Dr. S. Chandrasekar

Dr. K. Rajkumar

Reviewers

Dr. Y. Sasikumar

Dr. S. Thirumurugan

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