Synthesis of Dimethyl Carbonate from CO2 and Methanol over Zr-Based Catalysts with Different Chemical Environments

The adsorption and activation of both CO2 methanol are mainly affected by the distance Lewis acid site, Zr4+, base, Zr4+/O2−, Zr-based catalysts. In this paper, Zr-incorporated SBA-15 (Zr-SBA-15) Zr-grafted (Zr/SBA-15) catalysts were prepared with different Zr environments, analyzed N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction, UV-vis spectra, XPS. It was proposed that Zr-SBA-15 catalyst Si-O-Zr-OH Zr-O-Si-OH structure exhibited non-adjacent sites between Zr4+ while Zr/SBA-15 Zr-O-Zr-OH showed neighboring Zr4+/O2−. Furthermore, good catalytic activity, no DMC detected over at same reaction conditions. For combined in situ infrared performance, it indicated could be activated to form DMC, only when Zr4+/O2− existed adjacent each other catalyst.