CooMet
Innovative CO₂-based methanol synthesis with membrane technology
Methanol synthesis is a heterogeneous catalysis process that has been known for over 100 years. Initially, carbon monoxide was hydrogenated on robust Cr2O3/ZnO catalysts at pressures of up to 300 bar. Nowadays, Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts and process pressures of approximately 50 bar have become standard. The research is currently focusing on the use of CO2 as a carbon building block for the methanol synthesis. However, the transition from CO to CO2 produces water as a by-product, which not only has a deactivating effect on the copper catalyst, but also limits the equilibrium conversion to around 30 % CO2. Within this project, the selective removal of water using a zeolite-based catalytic membrane is being investigated. This process intensification by linking reaction and separation leads to higher conversions, selectivities and reaction rates. At the same time, the energy-intensive distillation of the H2O/CH3OH mixture is no longer necessary, which offers economic advantages.
Figure: Schematic representation of the membrane with reaction and separation (left) and SEM image of a zeolite membrane on Al2O3 (right).
Contact person: Johannes Lehmann M.Sc.
Project start: 11/2023
Funding: Budget funds