IONIC Liquid Mediated Synthese van zeoliet-ondersteunde metaaloxide gebaseerde katalysatoren voor het omzetten van CO2 naar dimethylether (IONICCAT)

Making dimethyl ether (DME) from hydrogenating CO2 has attracted great interest as DME is a good propellant, coolant and clean fuel. This process can break the thermodynamic restriction that exists for methanol synthesis from CO2 and improve the conversion of main greenhouse gas.
The synthesis of well-controlled shapes of solid materials in nano-size using ionic liquid (IL) solvents has received tremendous attention by taking advantage of their extraordinary properties. However, the remarkably high viscosity, which makes dispersing the support into the IL a major challenge, has limited their usage to the synthesis of un-supported nanoparticles. As an MSCA fellow, I will receive crucial training at KU Leuven and will work on developing a novel process for the synthesis of supported non-precious metal catalyst using IL. I will synthesize two generations of supported catalysts using novel synthesis procedures. I will produce the one-pot generation (OPG) catalyst by one-pot synthesis of support (zeolite) and metal oxide, whereas the well-structured generation (WSG) catalyst will be made by synthesizing zeolite using the IL as a co-solvent. For the OPG catalyst, both support and metal oxide will be synthesized simultaneously, while for the WSG catalyst, the IL that is used in zeolite synthesis will be re-used to engineer the metal oxide shape. Interestingly, to date the structure sensitivity of the CO2 hydrogenation to methanol and its coupling to DME has not been investigated. I will implement the new catalyst methodology to enhance the catalytic activity and selectivity of CO2 conversion to produce DME and establish synthesis-structure-activity relations.