MASc Oral Exam | High Surface Area Cu/γ-Al2O3 Catalyst Synthesized by Reverse Microemulsion Method for CO2 Conversion via Reverse Water Gas Shift, by Anastasiia Zakharova

You are welcome to attend Anastasiia Zakharova MASc oral exam supervised by Professor D. Simakov

Abstract:

Nowadays, catalytic conversion of CO2 has gained great attention due to environmental issues caused by CO2 emissions around the world. CO2 can be considered as a source of carbon with hydrogenation (using renewablehydrogen) as a possible approach for transforming CO2 into value-added chemicals and fuels creating an artificial carbon cycle. This study investigated the catalytic performance of γ-alumina-supported copper oxide for the reverse water gas shift reaction. A reverse microemulsion technique was deployed for the synthesis of a highly porous CuO-supported γ-Al2O3 catalyst with a specific surface area of 369.69 m2/g. XRD, BET, SEM and TEM were used for catalysts characterization and TPR was conducted to study the reducibility. The catalytic performance of the as-prepared catalyst was evaluated at various temperatures and space velocities. Results showed 100% CO selectivity with excellent CO2 conversion (near to equilibrium ~53%) at 500 degrees C.

Catalyst stability test was conducted for 95 h at 1 atm and 600 C under varying space velocities. RME Cu/γ-Al2O3 catalyst showed excellent catalytic stability and outstanding CO2 conversion of ~61% at GHSV of 60,000 and 41% at GHSV of 200,000.  This study showed that reverse microemulsion is a promising method for developing catalysts and enhancing their functionality in thermo-catalytic reactions.