【催化论坛】第114期 “Playing with thermodynamics and kinetics in CO2 conversion catalysis”

催 化 论 坛

『第114期』

Playing with thermodynamics and kinetics in CO₂ conversion catalysis

Professor Atsushi Urakawa

Delft University of Technology

时间：2024年4月26日（五）9:30

地点：能源基础楼一楼会议室

报告摘要：

The amount of CO₂ from the flue gas released by industrial processes and our activities is in the order of tens of gigatons globally. This enormous amount clearly points out that, besides actively demonstrated CO₂ sequestration technologies, we need to urgently develop highly efficient CO₂ conversion technologies to close the carbon cycle by recycling the carbon contained in CO₂ into a usable form. One of the most promising paths to valorise a great amount of captured CO₂ is its catalytic conversion to largely demanded chemicals like fuels. However, general challenges are its efficient activation and selective conversion to desired products. Numerous catalysts are developed to date; however, achieving high conversion efficiencies are often hindered by the high thermodynamic stability of CO₂ as well as by the unfavoured reaction kinetics and thermodynamics.
In this talk, chemical and engineering strategies for efficient catalytic conversion of CO₂ to chemical energy carriers are presented. Impacts of high-pressure conditions in combination with innovative catalysts on creating highly reactive environment will be presented for the synthesis of methanol, formates and CO among others. Furthermore, unique characteristics of unsteady-state operation to combine CO₂ capture and conversion in one process to produce syngas and methane are explained, highlighting the importance of operando methodologies to rationally develop and optimise catalytic materials and processes.

报告人简介：

Atsushi Urakawa is Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Leader of Catalysis Engineering Section at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). He is enthusiastic about fundamental as well as highly applied research, always seeking for new ideas and strategies to make a difference in industry to guide the technological trends towards greener society by means of innovative catalytic processes. His current major research activities are centered on catalysis for environmental protection (e.g. automotive catalysis) and synthesis of future chemical energy carriers such as hydrogen and methanol using thermal, electro and photocatalysis. Notably, his team actively researches on CO₂ conversion catalysis and recently reported the most efficient process to produce methanol and dimethyl ether from carbon dioxide and hydrogen using high-pressure approach with granted patents. The practical relevance of the catalysts and processes developed by his team is of utmost importance and he actively collaborates with industry partners. Furthermore, to facilitate rational catalyst and process design, his team develops new spectroscopic and analysis tools to gain fundamental insights into the catalytically active sites and active species under catalysts’ working (operando) conditions, aiming to establish catalyst structure-activity relationships.

欢迎感兴趣的老师和同学参加！