Researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics have developed a catalyst that triples the amount of methanol produced from CO2. The key innovation is a spatial separation of active sites on the catalyst, which avoids the usual trade off between reaction speed and selectivity. At 300 degrees Celsius and 3 MPa, the new catalyst achieved a space time yield of 1.2 grams per gram of catalyst per hour, roughly three times higher than standard commercial catalysts. The design uses a strong metal support interaction to create an overlayer structure. CO2 adsorbs and activates on zirconia sites, while copper sites continue to split hydrogen efficiently. This shifts the reaction pathway toward methanol via formate intermediates and reduces unwanted carbon monoxide byproducts. The work was published in the journal Chem and could improve the economics of CO2 to fuel processes.
