Stanford and Technical University of Denmark researchers have discovered and tested a Ni-Ga catalyst that reduces CO2 to methanol at ambient pressure. A series of leads for new alloy catalysts were established on the basis of a computational descriptor-based approach. A very active candidate Ni-Ga was synthesized and catalytic testing showed it to have similar performance as the industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst with considerably less production of CO. This may be the first step towards the industrial development of clean low cost low-pressure devices for CO2 reduction to methanol. Stage of Research: 1) The NiGa catalyst has been successfully synthesized and tested 2) Promising results showed similar performance as the industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst with less CO byproduct 3) Continued optimization of catalyst Applications: 1) Methanol is widely used in plastics adhesives and solvents and biofuels 2) A promising fuel for transportation3) Potential to be scaled up for industrial use
1) Clean and low cost method to produce methanol 2) Uses renewable sources 3) Low pressure production capabilities (vs. high pressure process used in industry) 4) Similar performance as current industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst 5) Lower production of CO