Heterogeneous Catalytic Systems for Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation to Value‐Added Chemicals

Abstract

Utilizing renewable energy to hydrogenate carbon dioxide into fuels eliminates massive CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and diminishes our need for using fossil fuels. This review presents the most recent developments for designing heterogeneous catalysts for the hydrogenation of CO2 to formate, methanol, and C2+ hydrocarbons. Thermodynamic challenges and mechanistic insights are discussed, providing a strong foundation to propose a suitable catalyst. The main body of this review focuses on nanostructured catalysts for constructing efficient heterogeneous systems. The most important factors affecting catalytic performance are highlighted, including active metals, supports and promoters that can potentially be used. The summary of the results and the outlook are presented in the final section. During the past few decades, heterogeneous CO2 hydrogenation has gained much attention and made tremendous progress. Thus, many highly efficient catalysts have been studied to discover their active sites and provide mechanistic insights. This paper summarizes recent advances in CO2 hydrogenation and its conversion into various hydrocarbons such as formate, methanol, and C2+ products. As for formate production, Au and Ru nanocatalysts show superior activity. However, considering the catalyst cost, Cu‐based catalysts have an excellent prospect for methanol production, among other catalysts. Ultra‐small nanoparticles and nanoclusters appear promising to provide highly active cost‐effective catalysts. A growing number of researchers are investigating the possibility of directly synthesizing C2+ products through CO2 hydrogenation. The major challenge in producing heavy hydrocarbons is breaking the ASF limitations, which have been achieved over bifunctional catalysts using zeolites. Using suitable support and promoter can lead to a superior activity, ascribed to structural, electronic, and chemical promotional effects.

Development of Multifunctional Catalysts for the Direct Hydrogenation of Carbon Dioxide to Higher Alcohols

“…Converting CO 2 into various high-value chemicals such as alkanes, olefins, alcohols, and aromatics can alleviate our reliance on fossil fuels, which is of great significance for the sustainable development of the energy and chemical industries [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Due to the chemical inertness of the CO 2 molecule, the conversion of CO 2 to methanol and C 2+ products usually requires a large energy input under harsh reaction conditions, such as high temperature and pressure [ 11 ]. Introducing another substance with higher Gibbs free energy as a co-reactant, such as green H 2 , will make this reaction thermodynamically easier [ 12 ].…”

Alumina and silica supported Ce-Fe-O systems obtained by the solution combustion method and their performance in CO2 hydrogenation to syngas

“…Reducing CO 2 concentrations in the atmosphere is a complex task which requires the search and development of optimal technologies for capturing and further converting CO 2 into useful chemicals for industrial processes or high value-added products [1]. In this regard, CO 2 hydrogenation is a suitable and actively studied method for recycling carbon dioxide, especially in a combination with hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources [2].…”

Perspective Applications of Plasma-Deposited Thin Film Nanocatalysts on Structured Supports: From CO2 Capture to Wastewater Treatment

“…The growing need for sustainable solutions to global environmental challenges has led to significant research efforts towards innovative technologies that utilise nanocatalysts in a variety of processes such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) conversion [1][2][3], NO x amendment [4][5][6], VOCs (volatile organic compounds) combustion [7][8][9], wastewater treatment [10][11][12], organic transformations [13], renewable energy production [14], and many others, as discussed in the comprehensive recent review [15]. Supported catalysts commonly exhibit heterogeneity in terms of their composition and nanostructure influencing their catalytic performance [16].…”