CARBON DIOXIDE HYDROGENATION TO METHANOL AT LOW PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE THESE N° 1726 (1997) PRESENTEE AU DEPARTEMENT DE CHIMIE ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE POUR L'OBTENTION DU GRADE DE DOCTEUR ES SCIENCES PAR Alain BILL Ingénieur chimiste diplomé EPF originaire de Muenchenbuchsee (BE) _acceptée sur proposition du jury: Prof. M. Gratzel, directeur de these Dr B. Eliasson, corapporteur Prof. A. Renken, corapporteur Prof. A. Wokaun, corapporteur Lausanne, EPFL 1998Acknowledgments 1 would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Dr. M. Graetzel (EPFL), for the trust and the freedom he gave me in my work. 1am also very grateful to Dr. B. Eliasson (ABB Corporate Research Center Ltd, Baden-Dittwil) and to Prof. Dr. A. Wokaun (Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen) for their pa jpation in stimulating discussions and the time they spent helping me. Without their support, this work would not have been possible. I could not have conducted my experiments without the kind consistent and helpful assistance of E. Killer (ABB), particularly when testing the methanol synthesis catalysts. Special thanks are due to W. Egli (ABB) for his computing assistance with kinetic data modeling. 1 would also like to thank Dr. J. Weigel (PSI) for her friendly advise and for helping me with the DRIFTS measurements, and to Dr. J. Kritzenberger (PSI) and E. Ortelli (PSI) for their assistance with the modulation experiments. 1 will always be grateful to Dr. U. Kogelschatz (ABB) for introducing me to the subject "silent discharge", for answering my many questions and for stimulating my interest. Special thanks to F. Moisy and Dr. L.-M. Zhou (visiting scientists) for providing various measurements. Particular thanks go to E.Uenala (PSI), F. Geiger (PSI), Dr.J.Wambach (PSI) and Dr. R. Képpel (ETHZ) for their comments. I am also grateful to Prof. Dr. A. Renken (EPFL) for being co-referee, a job which includes considerable work and little acknowledgment. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their understanding and support, and in particular my wife, Madeleine, for her continual support, love and confidence.