Photo-reduction of Carbon Dioxide with Water vapour into Methane using TiO2 Pellets Catalyst
The present concern of the global warming makes the photo-reduction of CO2 under the artificial conditions of vital interest. CO2 could be reduced/transformed into hydrocarbons when it is in contact with water vapour and catalysts (e.g. TiO2 or Cu/TiO2) under the UV radiation. Besides, lowering CO2 emission, it also seems to be one of the most desirable goals for storage of the solar energy if the UV band in the solar radiation could be used to power the process. However, the current efficiency of the artificial photo-reduction of CO2 process is still quite low, great efforts must be made to understand the fundamental reaction mechanisms in order to improve the efficiency. This paper presents the experimental set-up to study the process at Deakin University, which employs various types of catalyst to investigate the yield of photocatalytic reduction of CO2 with H2O and selectivity of the products. In our study, the CO2 mixed with H2O vapour in saturation state was discharged into a quartz tube reactor, on which UVA lamps were illuminating ultraviolet radioactive rays for 48 hrs continuously. The reformed species collected were analysed using gas chromatography. The detailed design of the experimental rig, the preparation of the catalysts and the preliminary results from this study will be reported and discussed in the paper.