A Critical Perspective on CO2 Conversions into Chemicals and Fuels

Abstract

In this paper, we aim to focus on the utilization of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a feedstock for synthetic applications in chemical and fuel industries, through catalytic carboxylation and reduction reactions. Thermal catalytic conversion as well as non-thermal plasma assisted and photocatalytic conversion CO2 into fuels such as methane, methanol, and long-chain hydrocarbons using different catalyst especially nano catalyst are also thoroughly compared and reviewed in this paper. Among currently available technical routes, the thermal catalytic conversion of CO2 via the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis using nanoscale catalyst offers the most feasible, practical and mature alternative for industrial-scale applications on the short term basis, converting gigantic quantity of CO2 captured from power plants into hydrocarbons.