Better Together: Developing a Two-Stage Catalytic Process to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Aromatics

Abstract

Benzene is a molecule which serves as a chemical building block for many modern-day products: among others, it is used for the production of plastics, medicine, and coatings. However, benzene is currently obtained from crude oil, which is an unsustainable source. So what if instead of crude oil, we can find a new route and produce benzene from the CO2 emitted during industrial processes? During my PhD project, we developed a two-stage catalytic process to produce benzene from CO2. This process consists of two steps: in the first step, CO2 is, together with H2, converted to CH4 using a nickel-based catalyst in a reaction known as CO2 methanation. Consequently, the formed CH4 is transformed into benzene using a zeolite-based catalyst in a second step. The latter reaction is known as the methane dehydroaromatization reaction (MDA), which was the main focus of this work. In this thesis, the results of our fundamental studies, which aimed to get a better understanding of MDA catalysts, are described. Furthermore, we will take you along in the design and construction of our two-stage reactor, which allowed us to perform the conversion of CO2¬ into benzene. Finally, we demonstrate that it is possible to convert CO2 into benzene via CH4, and we discuss the implications if we were to scale-up this process.