Increase of the CO2 conversion into methanol by zeolite membrane technology using Cu-Zn-Al-Ce catalyst

Abstract

The objective of this study is to increase CO2 conversion into methanol by applying zeolite membrane technology for reaction, using catalytic component with 16 % CeO2 -30 % CuO - 30 % ZnO/ 24 % Al2O3. Different experiments were conducted to identify the appropriate zeolite membrane to separate by-products. The following experiments determined the appropriate conditions for synthesis of methanol process from CO2 in reaction system with chosen zeolite membrane. The results of study showed that, NaA membrane could separate water out of the gas mixture after reaction the most effectively. This will limit the influence of water by-product on the catalytic activity and produce larger methanol amount in comparison to the reaction system without zeolite membrane. NaA zeolite membrane has shown its good performance since the produced methanol is 1.4 to 1.7 times higher than of non-membrane reaction system. The optimal conditions for methanol synthesis reaction from CO2 using the NaA zeolite membrane are: temperature from 220 to 240 oC, pressure is 5 bar, flow of materials input is 200 ml/min, the ratio of H2:CO2 is 3:1. Potential applications of the methanol synthesis from CO2 using zeolite membrane reactor system is absolutely suitable.