Cu, Ni, Pt Bimetallic Microporous Supported Silica Catalysts for Direct Formaldehyde Synthesis from Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen

Abstract

An increase in world greenhouse gas emissions requires the development of modern technologies for converting them into valuable substances and eliminating their formation during various technological and economic processes. One of the possible ways to solve this problem is the development of sustainable methods for producing widely used products that can be applied in different sectors of the modern economy. Formaldehyde is one of the largest-scale chemicals used in chemical processes. Modern industrial methods rely on the oxidation of methanol using industrial catalysts. This process can be adapted to utilize carbon dioxide for the direct production of formaldehyde. However, some thermodynamic and technical issues prevent the implementation of this process. The current study focuses on the synthesis of bimetallic catalysts based on Cu, Ni and Pt using microporous silica to provide a high concentration of active sites. The catalysts were characterized using nitrogen physisorption, hydrogen and carbon dioxide chemisorption, as well as X-ray fluorescence analysis. The synthesis of formaldehyde was carried out in a high-pressure Parr instrument reactor. Providing catalysts synthesis using micro-mesoporous silica results in the formation of metallic species within the micro- and mesoporous areas of the silica, and in an increase in the formaldehyde yield by 15-20 % compared to the catalysts described in literature.