Dimethyl ether

Oxygenate

Catalysis

Composite number

Engineering

Methyl formate

Materials science

Commodity chemicals

Methanol

Carbon fibers

Chemical engineering

Formate

Organic chemistry

Degree of unsaturation

Gasoline

Renewable energy

Composite material

Chemistry

Selectivity

Electrical engineering

Nature Communications

Transformation of greenhouse gas CO2 and renewable H2 into fuels and commodity chemicals is recognized as a promising route to store fluctuating renewable energy. Although several C1 chemicals, olefins, and gasoline have been successfully synthesized by CO2 hydrogenation, selective conversion of CO2 and H2 into aromatics is still challenging due to the high unsaturation degree and complex structures of aromatics. Here we report a composite catalyst of ZnAlOx and H-ZSM-5 which yields high aromatics selectivity (73.9%) with extremely low CH4 selectivity (0.4%) among the carbon products without CO. Methanol and dimethyl ether, which are synthesized by hydrogenation of formate species formed on ZnAlOx surface, are transmitted to H-ZSM-5 and subsequently converted into olefins and finally aromatics. Furthermore, 58.1% p-xylene in xylenes is achieved over the composite catalyst containing Si-H-ZSM-5. ZnAlOx&H-ZSM-5 suggests a promising application in manufacturing aromatics from CO2 and H2.

Selective conversion of CO2 and H2 into aromatics