Introduction  CO₂ catalytic hydrogenation for fuel synthesis is an economically feasible and large-scale implementable technology for CO₂ utilization, which can solve the problems of environment and resource shortage, and has gained wide attention in recent years. In this work, a microchannel reactor for CO₂ catalytic hydrogenation to synthesize hydrocarbon fuels is developed.

  Method  Based on the design concept of thermodynamic calculation, catalyst preparation, reactor design, structure optimization and performance testing, an anlysis was carried out.

  Result  The thermodynamic analysis shows that hydrocarbon fuels can be produced from CO₂ catalytic hydrogenation. Six iron-based catalysts are developed to improve the reaction rate of hydrocarbon fuel synthesis. Based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, the structure of the microchannel reactor is designed and optimized. The microchannel reactor has the advantages of simple-compact structure and strong heat-mass transfer capability. The experimental results show that the Zn-Fe catalyst exhibits the best performance of CO₂ catalytic hydrogenation for the synthesis of low-carbon olefins. CO₂ conversion and low-carbon olefins selectivity are 32% and 44% respectively.

  Conclusion  The microchannel reactor designed in this work has the dual functions of CO₂ utilization for hydrocarbon fuel synthesis, which is of great significance to China's response to climate change, the realization of the dual-carbon target and the development of hydrocarbon fuel industry.