CO2 to Methanol Using Plasma Catalysis at Atmospheric Pressure

Carbon dioxide (CO2) utilization offers an economical solution to the global challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and in creating a new circular economy for recycling CO2. CO2 to methanol conversion offers a promising route to reduce emissions, but its use as a feedstock remains a challenge. Advanced Energy Materials, LLC (ADEM) proposes to demonstrate a plasma catalytic technology (PlasCatTM) for economical and energy efficient conversion of CO2 to CO and methanol. Phase I studies have shown the techno-economic feasibility of the PlasCat™ technology to convert CO2 in two major pathways: First, a plasma catalysis scheme is demonstrated for CO2 to CO conversion using hydrogen. Second, a plasma catalytic process exhibited synergistic effect with efficient conversion of tri- reforming reaction involving CO2, H2O and CH4 to produce syngas at a desired H2/CO ratio ~2.2. ADEM also demonstrated a bimetallic catalyst for syngas to methanol at low pressures of 20 bar with much higher conversion than the state of art, commercial catalyst. Plasma catalytic studies involving CO2 with higher amounts of hydrogen exhibited 3% methanol yield and overall CO2 conversion around 60% at atmospheric pressure. Based on the Phase I results, ADEM proposes to optimize and scale up the processes using a unique Plasma flame integrated with a fluidized bed catalytic reactor. Phase II studies will be focused further on developing two mini-GTL solutions: (i) Customize the process to produce pure CO using an appropriate H2/CO2 ratio and offer as an on-site and on-demand production of CO or customize to produce methanol by adding additional hydrogen. (ii) Develop a mini Gas -to-Liquids (GTL) process involving tri-reforming of CO2, H2O, CH4 and O2 in a plasma catalytic reactor to produce syngas along with methanol and further process the syngas into methanol. The proposed mini GTL technology offers to use vastly available methane and water for the required hydrogen. Major objectives of Phase II include optimization and demonstration of the scalability of both solutions and detailed techno-economic competitiveness and C-footprint based life cycle analysis for a mini-GTL plant to produce ~5000 tons/yr of methanol. PlasCat™ technology allows economical routes for conversion of CO2 to value-added fuels/chemicals such as methanol and CO at low pressures. Also, the technology can be implemented at mini GTL scale by directly using CO2 rich exhausts from certain industry segments. CO production on demand and on-site can be beneficial to customers as the supply, transportation and storage can be uncertain and costly due to toxicity. Life cycle analysis suggests that the PlasCatTM technology can result in negative GHG emissions for production of both CO and methanol.