CO2 Conversion to Chemicals and Fuel Cells Using Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

The risk of depletion of a finite amount of fuel resources because of the ever-increasing demand for fossil fuels, along with the alarming increase in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere causing global warming, is at the center of the energy and environmental concerns today. As the world struggles to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and limit the global temperature increase to below 2 °C, an array of emerging technologies has evolved that use renewable energy sources to convert CO2 into chemicals or fuel cells with a high added value. This chapter discusses various methods of utilizing renewable energy sources in the conversion of CO2 into fuels including harnessing solar energy by atmospheric CO2 recycling via artificial photosynthesis to produce liquid solar fuels (i.e., methane (CH4), alcohols such as methanol (CH3OH), carbon monoxide (CO) or ethanol (C2H5OH)) from CO2 and water. Further, the opportunities and limitations in particular approaches are also discussed. The liquid fuels produced by these methods can be used in automobile sectors without any radical changes in the economic perspective. Also, the CO2 emission from the burning of these fuels will be of an equal amount with the CO2 initially used – an essential factor that will contribute to the sustainability of transport and the improvement of the overall environment.