Prof. Can Li’s group in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) reported “Highly Selective Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Lower Olefins.” This work has been published in ACS Catalysis (ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 8544-8548).
IConversion of CO2 to value-added chemicals has been a long-standing objective, direct hydrogenation of CO2 to lower olefins is highly desirable, but still challenging. Can Li’s group report a selective conversion of CO2 to lower olefins through CO2 hydrogenation over a ZnZrO/SAPO tandem catalyst fabricated with a ZnO-ZrO2 solid solution and a Zn-modified SAPO-34 zeolite, which can achieve the lower olefins selectivity as high as 80-90% among hydrocarbon products. This is realized based on the dual functions of the tandem catalyst: hydrogenation of CO2 on the ZnO-ZrO2 solid solution and lower olefins production on the SAPO zeolite. The thermodynamic and kinetic coupling between the tandem reactions enable the highly efficient conversion of CO2 to lower olefins. Furthermore, this catalyst is stable toward the thermal and sulfur treatments, showing the potential industrial application.
(By Zelong Li)
