Methanol Production from Carbon Dioxide and Water Using Ultraviolet Light

Abstract

An experimental apparatus was designed and constructed for photochemically converting carbon dioxide and water into small organic molecules such as methanol. Water to carbon dioxide molar ratios in the reactor feed ranged from 0.03 to 1.0 to the stoichiometric ratio for methanol production of 2.0 to 1.0 at 14.3 psia reactor pressure. Experiments were carried out at reactor residence times of 0.14 to 4.9 minutes. The experiments were done to study a potential method of solar capture and storage.