CO2 methanation using sugarcane bagasse biochar/nickel sustainable catalysts

Abstract

Carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methane is one of the promising gas phase reactions due to the well-established natural gas infrastructures and CO2 amounts consumed as reactants. This process supports in CO2 mitigation, providing solutions to global warming. Using the eco-friendly sugarcane bagasse (SCB) as biochar-based catalysts, which are environmentally friendly, has not been reported for thermal catalytic CO2 methanation. Thus, SCB biochar loaded with nickel nanocatalysts were prepared through pyrolysis, including different metal nitrate loadings on sugarcane bagasse powder (mmolNi/gSCBB). The catalytic activity increased upon elevating the nickel nitrate loading up to 0.5 mmolNi/gSCB and then decreased with increasing the Ni. This is attributed to the agglomeration caused by the high content of Ni. The catalyst containing 0.5 mmolNi/gSCB showed the highest CO2 conversion at all operating temperatures (250–550 °C) in addition to the highest methane selectivity at 400 °C. This study paves the way for the wide utilization of the sugarcane bagasse as an alternative green and low-cost support for various metals used in the thermal catalytic reactions, not only the CO2 methanation. Beyond this academic research, the work contributes to address the UNs’ Sustainable Development Goals SDG7 and SDG13, related to “Clean and affordable energy” and “Climate Action”, respectively.