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Updated: Mar 10, 2026
Achieving Moderate Pressures in Sealed Vessels Using Dry Ice As a Solid CO2 Source
Published on: August 17, 2018
Interplay between Reaction and Phase Behaviour in Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation to Methanol
Helena Reymond1, Victor Amado-Blanco1, Andreas Lauper1
1Institute of Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 3, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Condensation promotes CO2 hydrogenation to CH3 OH beyond equilibrium through in situ product separation. Although primordial for catalyst and reactor design, triggering conditions as well as the impact on sub-equilibrium reaction behaviour remain unclear. Herein we used an in-house designed micro-view-cell to gain chemical and physical insights into reaction and phase behaviour under high-pressure conditions over a commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2 O3 catalyst. Raman microscopy and video monitoring, combined with online gas chromatography analysis, allowed the complete characterisation of the reaction bulk up to 450 bar (1 bar=0.1 MPa) and 350 °C. Dew points of typical effluent streams related to a parametric study suggest that the improving reaction performance and reverting selectivities observed from 230 °C strongly correlate with (i) a regime transition from kinetic to thermodynamic, and (ii) a phase transition from a single supercritical to a biphasic reaction mixture. Our results advance a rationale behind transitioning CH3 OH selectivities for an improved understanding of CO2 hydrogenation under high pressure.
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