Project description
Understanding nano-interactions could catalyse optimised methanol production from CO2
The use of carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce other chemicals and fuels is gaining increasing interest as a complementary approach to carbon capture, sequestration and storage strategies to reduce atmospheric CO2. Direct CO2 hydrogenation to methanol yields a fuel with relatively high energy density as an alternative to fossil fuels, providing a dual benefit. The best way to achieve this is currently via a multi-metallic catalyst combining copper and zinc-oxide nanoparticles with an alumina support. However, the actual mechanisms governing the relationship between copper as the active site and zinc as the reaction promoter are not known. The EU-funded CuZnSyn project is studying the binding, activation and reaction sequences along the CO2 hydrogenation pathway to enable catalyst optimisation and enhanced methanol production.
Objective
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas that is significantly contributing to climate change. In tandem with advances in sequestering carbon, beneficial uses for CO2 are of high societal importance for developing a sustainable future. One attractive use of CO2 is in its conversion to energy dense fuels (green energy vectors). One such fuel is methanol, made from CO2 via hydrogenation in conjunction with a multimetallic catalyst. The current best industrial (heterogeneous) catalyst incorporates copper and zinc-oxide nanoparticles with an alumina support. A special synergy is observed between the copper (active site) and zinc (reaction promoter), but these species and their connection is poorly defined and remains debated.
This project aims to isolate proximal copper and zinc centres, the fundamental building block for the construction of critical copper–zinc interfaces, within a well-defined, and highly tuneable ligand framework. Once isolated, the binding, activation and interconversion of key intermediates along the CO2 hydrogenation pathway will be meticulously analysed.
Work package 1 involves the synthesis and characterisation of a series of 12 ligands that encompass a range of stereo-electronic profiles, and subsequent isolation of CuZn complexes using these ligands. Work package 2 will use the complexes to study the activation and interconversion of key intermediates along the CO2 hydrogenation pathway to gain mechanistic understanding. Finally, work package 3 will test the most active complexes as catalysts for the direct hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol.
The combination of my skills (multimetallic systems) and the host groups (mechanistic studies) make achieving the project aims realistic. The knowledge harnessed from gaining deep mechanistic understanding of the synergy between copper and zinc during CO2 hydrogenation will be invaluable in developing the next generation of catalysts for methanol production, adding value to a deleterious waste streams.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryalcohols
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
SW7 2AZ LONDON
United Kingdom