abstract
- The catalytic hydrogenation of captured carbon dioxide (CO¿) to methanol (CH¿OH) is a promising strategy for reducing CO¿ emissions while producing sustainable fuel. This study investigates the performance of a trimetallic Cu/CeO¿/MgO (CuCeMg) catalyst for CO¿ hydrogenation to methanol and compares it Cu-CeO2 (CuCe) and Cu-MgO (CuMg) formulations, as well as Cu-ZnOAl2O3 (CuZnAl) reference catalyst. The synergistic interactions between Cu, CeO¿, and MgO were analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), temperature programmed desorption (TPD), and temperature programmed reduction (TPR). The CuCeMg catalyst exhibited a balanced combination of medium and strong basic sites and moderate reducibility, resulting in competitive methanol space time yield of 138¿gCH¿OH kgcat¿¹¿h¿¹¿at 230¿°C and 3¿MPa under moderate reaction conditions. Although CuZnAl achieved the highest overall activity, CuCeMg demonstrated favorable selectivity at low temperature and effective CO¿ activation. These findings provide insight into how multifunctional supports based on CeO¿ and MgO can be tailored to enhance CO¿ hydrogenation performance and offer a platform for further catalyst optimization toward sustainable methanol production.