Study of CuZnMOx oxides (M = Al, Zr, Ce, CeZr) for the catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 into methanol

CuO–ZnO–Al2O3 catalysts were synthesized by two methods, sol–gel and co-precipitation syntheses. Al2O3 was then substituted with other supports, such as ZrO2, CeO2 and CeO2–ZrO2 in order to have a better understanding of the support's effect. These catalysts containing 30 wt% of Cu were then tested for CO2 hydrogenation into methanol. The effect of reaction temperature and GHSV on the catalytic behaviour was also investigated. The best results were obtained with a 30 CuO–ZnO–ZrO2 catalyst synthesized by co-precipitation and calcined at 400 °C. This catalyst presents a good CO2 conversion rate (23%) with 33% of methanol selectivity, leading to a methanol productivity of 331 gMeOH.kgcata−1·h−1 at 280 °C under 50 bar and a GHSV of 10,000 h−1.