My name is Golshid and I’m from Khorramabad, Iran. I did my master in Chemical Engineering with a particular focus on Thermo-kinetics and Catalyst at Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic). During my studies, I had chance to work on different kind catalyst and reactors. Also, I did an internship on a particular kind of catalyst at Ecole Polytechnique which they made me to pursue my studies in Pioneer Program. This would be an opportunity for me to find a path through environmental challenges and being a part of this solving climate change issue.
Now I am a PhD student under supervision of Prof. Patrick Da Costa at Sorbonne University and co-supervision of Prof. Carlos Henriques at IST-Lisboa. My topic is basely focused on plasma catalytic reactor design. The purpose is to understand on one hand, the appropriate reactor structure in the field of geometry and physical property and on the other hand, find the best catalyst to investigate the effect of plasma and catalyst on each other.
| Overview |  |
| ESR: | 9 |
| Title: | Tailoring selectivity with different plasma sources for CO2 hydrogenation |
| Home Institution: | Sorbonne University (SU) |
| 1st Supervisor: | Patrick Da Costa |
| Host Institution: | Instituto Superior Técnico Heterogeneous Catalysis and Catalytic Processes (IST-CATHPRO) |
| 2nd Supervisor: | Carlos Henriques |
| Industrial Partner: | Green Syn Fuel |
| Industrial Contact: | José João Campos Rodrigues |
| Defence: | December 7 2022 |
Abstract
One of the greatest challenges for humanity in this century is the fight against the constant increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, in particular carbon dioxide CO2. Declining or stabilizing these emissions by developing innovative solutions in order to capture and transform (CCU) the inevitably gas produced CO2 are major challenges for the next decades. Here in this study, we will focus on the CO2 methanation reaction (Sabatier reaction) as a promising approach for CO2 reduction since the generated methane can be readily stored in the existing gas network or used as raw materials for valuable chemical production. By avoiding the critical conditions of high temperatures and pressure needed in conventional thermal approach and intersecting the requirements for flexible production by renewable energy can be achieved by combining plasma technology with catalysis. Despite the fact that the general principles of plasma catalysis are described, it is yet a new field of research with many unsolved aspects to be discovered. Hence, in this work, we will attempt to show some of these aspects by studying the impact of promotional effects on plasma properties in a packed bed Dielectric Barrier Discharge “DBD” plasma reactor, which allow to highlight the synergy between plasma and the catalyst. This PhD thesis as a multidisciplinary study, first will focus on the effect of promoters and their optimum loading on Ni/CeO2 catalyst for the CO2 methanation reaction in the presence of the plasma. In the second step this series of catalysts will be intentionally supported on HUSY zeolites to investigate the effect of physicochemical properties of the zeolite-based catalyst on the energy efficiency of CO2 methanation. This work will grant a new methodology to select the most appropriate zeolite-based catalysts in terms of energy efficiency for DBD plasma catalytic CO2 methanation. Under this way, we hope to open new insights to further improve the synergy between the plasma and the packing material, in order to help with the transition towards a sustainable future.
Links with other ESR
- ESRs 6-8, 10: Efficiency comparison
Secondments
- IST-CATHPRO: Design new catalytic materials and well characterize the catalysts
- Green Syn Fuel: Realistic design of industrial reactors