CO Hydrogenation at Atmospheric Pressure and Low Temperature Using Plasma-Enhanced Catalysis over Supported Cobalt Oxide Catalysts.

CO is a promising renewable, cheap, and abundant C1 feedstock for producing valuable chemicals, such as CO and methanol. In conventional reactors, because of thermodynamic constraints, converting CO to methanol requires high temperature and pressure, typically 250 °C and 20 bar. Nonthermal plasma is a better option, as it can convert CO at near-ambient temperature and pressure. Adding a catalyst to such plasma setups can enhance conversion and selectivity. However, we know little about the effects of catalysts in such systems. Here, we study CO hydrogenation in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma-catalysis setup under ambient conditions using MgO, γ-AlO, and a series of Co O /MgO catalysts. While all three catalyst types enhanced CO conversion, Co O /MgO gave the best results, converting up to 35% of CO and reaching the highest methanol yield (10%). Control experiments showed that the basic MgO support is more active than the acidic γ-AlO, and that MgO-supported cobalt oxide catalysts improve the selectivity toward methanol. The methanol yield can be tuned by changing the metal loading. Overall, our study shows the utility of plasma catalysis for CO conversion under mild conditions, with the potential to reduce the energy footprint of CO-recycling processes.