Methanol production with the use of syngas derived from solar‐driven splitting of CO2 and H2O is a promising route to sustainable liquid fuels. Herein, we investigated the effect of using a CO2‐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–Al2O3 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 CO2 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 H2‐free syngas upon shutdown. Characterization and modeling indicated that this purging avoided the formation of inactive ZnCO3 and minimized the oxidation of the Cu surface atoms.
From solar syngas to methanol: The sustainability of liquid fuel production like methanol would be greatly enhanced if the syngas feedstock was obtained from the renewably‐powered splitting of H2O and the greenhouse gas CO2 rather than from the steam reforming of fossil fuels. In this context, a promising technology comprises the use of solar radiation. However, the limited and unsteady availability of sunlight, as illustrated on the cover, determines an intermittent syngas supply and fluctuations in its composition. As industrial methanol synthesis catalysts are typically operated under steady‐state conditions for several years, the authors investigated the impact of a daily startup‐shutdown procedure and of syngas feeds containing variable amounts of CO and CO2 on the catalytic properties of a commercial Cu–ZnO–Al2O3 catalyst. They uncovered that the activity, selectivity, and time‐on‐stream behavior of the ternary system can be retained depending on the gas atmosphere applied upon the startup–shutdown steps. Based on the structure‐performance relations derived, they put forward guidelines for the design of improved catalysts. More details can be found in the Full Paper by Javier Pérez‐Ramírez and Aldo Steinfeld et al. from ETH Zurich on page 565 in Issue 5, 2016 (DOI: 10.1002/ente.201600022).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.