Morphology and performance of Cu/ZnO based catalyst: Comparison between Al2O3 and SiC support

The effect of textural properties and morphologies of the support involving commercial alumina, Al2O3 and silicon carbide, SiC for copper-zinc oxide, Cu/ZnO based catalyst on the performance of carbon dioxide, CO2 hydrogenation to methanol, CH3OH was investigated. Using the same reaction condition at 2.25 MPa, 483 K, and the gas feed volume of CO2 to H2 ratio of 1:3, remarkable difference in terms of CO2 conversion and methanol selectivity were obtained using these two different supports. Copper and zinc oxide loaded onto alumina and silicon carbide, denoted as CZA and CZS respectively were characterized using Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and their result showed that CZA and CZS BET surface area were lower compared to their respective unloaded support because of the pore blockage. The morphologies of catalysts were also characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental data showed that CZA exhibit lower CO2 conversion of 10.77 but producing higher methanol selectivity of 77.09 compared to that of CZS. These results may due to the difference of textural properties, morphologies and chemical nature of the supports involved. © 2016 Author(s).