CO2 Chemical Conversion to Useful Products: Review of the Latest Advances Toward Sustainability

In the fossil-fuel-based economy, current approaches for the CO2 reduction from large-scale energy consumers (e.g. power stations and cement works) are mainly relying on carbon capture and storage (CCS), having three proposed generic solutions: post-combustion capture, pre-combustion capture, and oxy fuel combustion. All the aforementioned approaches are based on various physical and chemical phenomena including absorption, adsorption and cryogenic capture of CO2. However, the ultimate solution for the CO2 sequestration concerns would be the chemical transformation of this molecule to useful products such as fuels (through, for example, Fischer-Tropsch chemistry) or polymers (through successive copolymerization and chain growth). This could sustainably reduce carbon emissions taking the advantages of the CO2-drived chemical commodities, so-called carbon capture and conversion (CCC). Nevertheless, the surface chemistry of CO2 reduction is difficult due to the presence of large energy barriers requiring noticeable catalysis. This work aims to review the most recent advances in this concept (CO2 conversion to fuels, and CO2 copolymerization) with catalysis approach in terms of both materials and process design. To serve an example, the recently enhanced CO2 copolymerization results in a polymer having more than 44% of its weight originated from CO2 conversion. This biodegradable material has exhibited excellent anti-diffusion properties comparable to Nylon which makes it beneficial in food packaging industry. Some of the most promising processes are expanded in detail, concluding with the necessity of subsidizing more research on CO2 conversion technologies considering ample of ongoing global projects on carbon management.