The $CO_{2}$ Hydrogenation toward the Mixture of Methanol and Dimethyl Ether: Investigation of Hybrid Catalysts

Catalytic hydrogenation of carbon dioxide for the simultaneous synthesis of methanol and dimethyl ether (together called oxygenates) over a combination of methanol synthesis and methanol dehydration catalysts has been studied. Various methanol synthesis and methanol dehydration catalysts were examined for this reaction. The addition of promotors like to Cu/ZnO catalyst gave much more enhanced yield on the formation of oxygenates. From the results, the promotional effect of has been explained in terms of increase in the intrinsic activity of Cu while that of being increase in the dispersion of Cu. Among the methanol dehydration catalysts examined, the solid acids bearing high population of intermediate-strength acid sites were found to be very effective for the production of oxygenates. HY zeolite which contains strong acid sites produce small amount of hydrocarbons as by-products. However, CuNaY zeolite in which the presence of strong acid sites are minimum gives very high oxygenates yield without the formation of hydrocarbons.