Research Projects

The increasing use of fossil fuels for energy production leads to unsustainable levels of carbon emissions, particularly CO₂, a major greenhouse gas. This issue is particularly critical in countries like India where energy access is crucial for prosperity and development. Coal-based power plants generate up to 15% CO₂ in their flue gas, making the capture and utilization of CO₂ for chemical production an important approach to mitigate its environmental impact. One promising route for CO₂ mitigation is using CO₂ as an alkylation reagent for the production of alkylated aromatics. This process produces high-value products like xylenes, but requires valuable molecular H₂ for CO₂ hydrogenation under energy-intensive conditions. Applying a liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) as a H₂-donor could improve process economics, milder operating conditions, and net greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation. The proposed work focuses on alkylation of toluene using CO₂ as an alkylation reagent and methylcyclohexane as a H₂-donor over a single multi-functional catalyst. Methylcyclohexane serves as both a H₂-donor and a source of toluene, dehydrogenating to give H₂ and toluene. CO₂ reacts with H₂ to form reactive alkylation species, triggering the alkylation of toluene to produce alkylated products. Preliminary experiments show promising results, with a potential for improving product yield through catalyst composition and reaction parameters. However, correlation between catalyst properties and activity remains to be established for more versatility. This is the first-of-its-kind process for alkylation of aromatics using CO₂ and H₂-donor.

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