Highly selective conversion of CO2 to methanol on the CuZnO–ZrO2 solid solution with the assistance of plasma

CuZnO-ZrO2-C was prepared by a co-precipitation method. For comparison, CuZnO-ZrO2-PC and CuZnO-ZrO2-CP were prepared by glow discharge plasma. The catalysts were characterized via the XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, TEM, SEM, EDS, XPS, CO2-TPD and H2-TPR techniques. The catalysts were comparatively investigated for CO2 conversion and methanol selectivity in a fixed-bed reactor under the condition of 2 MPa, 250 °C, H2/CO2 = 3/1 and GHSV = 12 000 mL g-1 h-1. The results showed that the activities of the catalysts increased in the order of CuZnO-ZrO2-PC > CuZnO-ZrO2-CP > CuZnO-ZrO2-C. Moreover, the CO2 conversion of CuZnO-ZrO2-C increased by 38.9% via treatment with glow discharge plasma. The results are well explained based on the CO2-TPD and H2-TPR characterizations of the catalysts.