Preparation of catalytic materials for obtaining Acrylic Acid from Ethylene and Carbon Dioxide

The environmental problems caused by carbon dioxide emissions, as well as its accumulation in the atmosphere, have forced the scientific community to implement methods to reduce said emissions, as well as to seek alternatives for their use, one of which is in the chemical synthesis; simultaneously, catalysts with various materials that facilitate their activation have been developed. The following research paper presents the synthesis of catalysts for obtaining acrylic acid from carbon dioxide and ethylene. The materials used are transition metals: nickel and cobalt, from the salts NiSO4•(NH4)2SO4•6H2O (ammonium sulfate and nickel hexahydrate) and CoCl2•6H2O (cobalt chloride hexahydrate). During the procedure, nickel is impregnated in a polymeric material and absorbed in a clayey material; both metals are subjected to a chemical reduction process. To verify the composition of the material, a scanning electron microscopy/X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry analysis was performed for allthe obtained materials. The results presented here are initial in the research, so the reaction to obtain the acrylic acid is not yet studied in depth. The proposed materials and gathered information are a good starting point for future research.