This is the water gas shift reaction: H2+CO2 -> CO+H2O
Wait a minute, you are quoting the reaction in the reverse of what most people think of. This reaction is used industrially to produce hydrogen from methane (partial oxidation of methane, followed by the water gas shift). Are you trying to produce CO?
In the formation of hydrogen, one way to separate the hydrogen out is to pass it over a palladium membrane. The hydrogen will pass through the palladium, but the other species will not. Essentially the hydrogen reacts with the palladium to form palladium hydride, diffuses through the metal layer and reforms molecular hydrogen on the other side of the membrane.
In this paper they describe the reaction being driven to the H2+CO2 side by removing the hydrogen through such a membrane.
It looks like there are several transition metals that will catalyze this reaction. Even
gold. Many people on this forum like gold, perhaps they will find this interesting?
Yes, the reverse WGS reaction - I wish to generate CO. I sent you a PM about it. Just for anyone else listening - I know CO is abominably dangerous and no, I'm not trying to
top myself. The 4 species would have some equilibrium ratio, dependent on T & P, so I would need a method for extracting the CO and H2O so as to favor their continued production - exactly the opposite of the article you cite.
I sent you a PM about it a couple of days ago, but I realize the PM notification is hardly noticeable.
OK, I still don't see why you would want to do the reverse-water-gas shift reaction when there are plenty of easier ways to go about getting CO.
A major industrial source of CO is producer gas, a mixture containing mostly carbon monoxide and nitrogen, formed by combustion of carbon in air at high temperature when there is an excess of carbon. In an oven, air is passed through a bed of coke. The initially produced CO2 equilibrates with the remaining hot carbon to give CO. The reaction of O2 with carbon to give CO is described as the Boudouard equilibrium. Above 800 °C, CO is the predominant product:
O2 + 2 C → 2 CO (ΔH = −221 kJ/mol)
Another source is "water gas", a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced via the endothermic reaction of steam and carbon:
H2O + C → H2 + CO (ΔH = +131 kJ/mol)
For the second reaction, you could then pass the gas over the palladium membrane to remove the hydrogen, leaving pure CO.
I also found
this webpage which describes a simple, easy way to generate pure CO on a benchtop scale. They just mix conc. sulfuric acid and formic acid, which dehydrates the formic acid, releasing CO.
HCOOH + cat. H2SO4 --> H2O + CO
I suppose I should think about where the gasses come from, but where I work we just order cylinders of gasses. In my lab we have big tanks of CO, H2, syngas(CO + H2, in 1:1 and 2:1 ratios), compressed air, N2, He, and CO2 all lined up in a row. We also have a very sensitive CO/CO2 monitor right above these tanks for safety.