Methane production from H2+CO2 reaction without solid phase catalysis

An open important challenge in the research field of possible strategies using low cost or renewable energy is to design and develop a heterogeneous/homogeneous catalysis processes reusing waste CO2 to produce methane in a circular economy scheme. For such a purpose is crucial to realize an optimized yield methanation stage in which hydrogen reacts with carbon dioxide to produce methane and steam water. Currently, the methanation process used in laboratory prototype apparatuses, as Progeo 20kw, is based on the well known Sabatier reaction CO2 + 4 H2 → CH4 + 2 H2O performed at high pressure (2-3 atm) and high temperature (200-300°C) with the use of a solid phase catalyst (nickel, ruthenium, or alumina). The present contribution aims to find new efficient methanation pathways in order to avoid the use of the solid phase catalysis, exploring alternative reaction mechanisms involving the CO2 hydrogenation through a plasma generation by electrical discharges on a CO2+H2 gas mixture. In order to realize this aim, the authors can employ their long expertise in modeling molecular processes (hydrogen generation, gas phase processes, molecular dynamics simulations) and in fully characterize the microscopic dynamics of elementary reactions by the experimental determination of all main kinetic parameters as rate constants, cross sections, intermolecular potentials, structure, and energy of the transition state, and related reaction pathways.