Mechanistic insights into CO2 methanation: comparative study of Ni and Ni–Fe/Al2O3 catalysts via TPSR and in situ DRIFTS
摘要
The conversion of CO2 to CH4 is a promising technology for future generation survival. CH4 is a clean-burning fuel that provides a way to store renewable energy. A series of Ni and Fe supported Alumina catalysts were prepared by coprecipitation method with 15 wt.% of Ni, Fe, (75Ni–25Fe) metal loading, characterized by H2-TPR, XRD, CO2-TPD, H2-TPD techniques and studied by in-situ Diffuse Reflectance Fourier-Transformed Infrared (DRIFT) spectroscopy during the CO2 adsorption and hydrogenation reaction and the catalytic action of the prepared catalysts was performed in a system in the form of pulses operating under differential conditions at atmospheric pressure. It is crucial because it prevents the catalyst from being overloaded with gas, which can lead to inaccurate results. It revealed that the amount of CO2 adsorbed estimated from CH4 formed and calculated the conversion and Space–Time Yield (STY). For bimetallic catalysts, the STY is 1.2 times higher and almost 2 times better conversion at a lower temperature (300 °C) compared to the monometallic catalysts. The peak temperature of CH4 formation over the bimetallic catalyst is observed at a low temperature when compared to the monometallic catalysts, indicating that methanation proceeds faster on the bimetallic catalyst. It is suggested that adding Fe to Ni leads to a decrease in the rate of CO2 dissociation, which is thought to be an essential step in the methanation reaction. This study also revealed that the 15(Ni–Fe)/Al2O3 catalyst has a lower activation energy of 0.73 times than the 15Ni/Al2O3 catalyst so the reaction can proceed more easily on the 15(Ni–Fe)/Al2O3 catalyst at 1.15 times lower temperatures than the prepared catalysts. The findings in this work are expected to offer a more reasonable explanation for previous studies and provide guidance for future reaction design.