The Co

3

O

4

and Zr-

Ce-

and La-Co

3

O

4

catalysts were prepared

characterized

and applied to produce CH

4

from CO

2

catalytic hydrogenation in low temperature as 140-220℃. The results indicated that the addition of Zr

Ce

or La to the Co

3

O

4

decreased the crystallite sizes of Co and the outer-shell electron density of Co

3+

and increased the specific surface area

which would provide more active sites for the CO

2

methanation. Especially

the addition of Zr also changed the reducing state of Co

3

O

4

via an obvious change in the interaction between Co

3

O

4

and ZrO

2

. Furthermore

Zr doped into the Co

3

O

4

increased the basic intensity of the weak and medium basic sites

as well as the amount of Lewis acid sites

and Brønsted acid sites were also found on the Zr-Co

3

O

4

surface. The introduction of Zr

Ce

or La favored the production of CH

4

and the Zr-Co

3

O

4

catalyst exhibited the highest CO

2

conversion (58.2%) and CH

4

selectivity (100%) at 200℃

and 0.5 MPa with a gaseous hourly space velocity of 18

000 ml·g

cat

-1

·h

-1

and the catalytic activity of CO

2

methanation for the Zr-

Ce-

and La-Co

3

O

4

exhibited more stable than Co

3

O

4

in a 20-h reaction.