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Novel photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into solar fuel under a continuous flow photoreactor using nano-engineered slag catalyst
* 1, 2 , 3 , 3
1  Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, United States of America
2  Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), New Borg Al-Arab city, Alexandria, Egypt
3  Department of Chemical and Petrochemicals Engineering, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, New Borg Al-Arab city, Alexandria, Egypt
Academic Editor: Juan Francisco García Martín

Abstract:

The biggest contribution to the global warming phenomenon is a rise in carbon dioxide, which causes climate change. The need for a novel and low-cost composite catalyst to capture and convert CO2 from the atmosphere into solar fuel is in high demand. Slag waste from a steel-making company is one of the low-cost raw materials. This slag was synthesized in this study using a solvothermal preparation technique to produce a steel slag nanocomposite catalyst. The chemical and elemental composition, morphology, crystallographic structure, and band gap were evaluated using EDX, SEM, TEM, FTIR, XRD, and UV-vis spectroscopy, respectively. The result reveals that the EAF-SSNC exhibited nanocomposite behavior with a band gap of 1.67eV. The prepared slag nanocomposite was utilized under a continuous flow photo-reactor for CO2 reduction with water for the first time. The resulting product was analyzed using total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Based on the gas chromatography analysis of the liquid products, it was revealed that CH3OH was the predominant product, whereas HCHO was the minor one. EAF-SSNC achieved 37mg/L TOC concentration in CO2 reduction. This work showed that steel slag nanocomposites might be effectively used for CO2 reduction and will reduce the overall cost of using pure chemicals.

Keywords: Steel Slag; Nanocomposite; Photocatalysis; CO2 reduction; Total Organic Carbon: Methanol
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