Premium
Impact of Daily Startup–Shutdown Conditions on the Production of Solar Methanol over a Commercial Cu–ZnO–Al 2 O 3 Catalyst
Author(s) -
AshKurlander Uri,
Martin Oliver,
Fontana Luca D.,
Patil Vikas R.,
Bernegger Men,
Mondelli Cecilia,
PérezRamírez Javier,
Steinfeld Aldo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
energy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2194-4296
pISSN - 2194-4288
DOI - 10.1002/ente.201600022
Subject(s) - syngas , methanol , shutdown , catalysis , materials science , chemical engineering , gas composition , process engineering , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , physics , engineering
Methanol production with the use of syngas derived from solar‐driven splitting of CO 2 and H 2 O is a promising route to sustainable liquid fuels. Herein, we investigated the effect of using a CO 2 ‐rich syngas with the same composition as that obtained in a solar thermochemical reactor and of applying a daily startup–shutdown (DSS) routine matching the intermittent solar operation over a benchmark Cu–ZnO–Al 2 O 3 catalyst. The catalyst reached fast equilibration (10 h) in the presence of this syngas mixture and reversibly responded to changes in the concentrations of CO and CO 2 by mimicking fluctuations in the feed composition. Remarkably, its deactivation was even less pronounced over 27 cycles under a DSS regime than for a corresponding time on stream under uninterrupted operation if the reactor was purged with H 2 ‐free syngas upon shutdown. Characterization and modeling indicated that this purging avoided the formation of inactive ZnCO 3 and minimized the oxidation of the Cu surface atoms.