Direct Synthesis of Liquefied Petroleum Gas from Carbon Dioxide Using a Copper/Zinc Oxide/Zirconia/Alumina and HY Zeolite Hybrid Catalyst

Conversion of CO₂ to lower hydrocarbons (HCs) is a high potential process that could reduce and sustainably control this greenhouse gas. In accord with The Sustainable Development Goal from The United Nation Development Program, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is viewed as environmentally friendly and is widely used. Small HCs can be directly synthesized from CO₂ hydrogenation over a hybrid catalyst. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the direct synthesis of LPG from CO₂ hydrogenation using a copper/zinc oxide/zirconium/alumina (CZZA) mixed metal and HY zeolite as a hybrid catalyst. The study was conducted in a fixed bed reactor using hydrogen/CO₂/carbon monoxide as the reactant gas and evaluating four types of production condition, method of catalyst combination, reaction temperature, CZZA/HY zeolite mass ratio, and catalyst weight/volume flow rate. The mixing type between the CZZA and HY zeolite catalysts markedly influenced the HC selectivity with strong suppression of reverse water gas shift reaction. At the optimum condition, a 27.39 % CO₂ conversion level and a high HC (98.70 %) and LPG (66.56 %) selectivity were obtained.