Pathways to food from CO2 via ‘green chemical farming’

Yan, Ning; Zhou, Kang; Tong, Yen Wah; Leong, David Tai; Dickieson, Maxim Park

doi:10.1038/s41893-022-00906-8

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…48 By embracing these emerging trends, the catalysis community can accelerate the materials and process development for sustainable CO 2 conversion into fuels, chemicals and even nutrients. 49…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mechanism-Guided Catalyst Design for CO₂ Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol

et al. 2023

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Metrics & MoreArticle Recommendations CONSPECTUS: CO 2 to formate/formic acid and methanol has emerged as a promising method for utilizing CO 2 in chemical and fuel synthesis, as well as reducing CO 2 emissions when H 2 is produced through renewable energy sources. This reaction requires the activation of two chemically distinct molecules, CO 2 and H 2 , along with the selective formation of the desired product.Creating efficient catalysts that surpass the limitations of existing catalysts remains a significant challenge. Historically, the development of catalysts has largely depended on trial and error until successful outcomes are achieved. However, recent advances in material synthesis for well-defined structures, reaction kinetics analysis, in situ characterization techniques, and computational studies have facilitated a systematic understanding of catalytic reactions and enabled mechanism-guided catalyst development. This innovative approach has empowered researchers to strategically design effective catalysts that optimize the target reaction, particularly the rate-determining step, while tackling other limitations, such as selectivity and stability. This Account provides an overview of our recent efforts in catalyst development for CO 2 hydrogenation through mechanism-guided engineering, which are primarily divided into two sections: (i) formic acid/formate and (ii) methanol production. For the CO 2 hydrogenation to formate/formic acid, we first discuss the structure−activity correlation studies of various metal/support catalyst systems, including different metal particle sizes, types of support, and crystalline morphologies of the support. These studies highlight the crucial role of electron-rich metal sites for H 2 splitting and an adequate number of weak basic sites for CO 2 activation, which inform the design of improved catalysts with unique architectures. Notably, encapsulated metal cluster catalysts enhance the utilization of metal species and optimize the synergistic interaction between metal active sites and the support material. The encapsulation strategy can also be applied to inexpensive metal elements such as Ni, facilitating the development of highly efficient catalysts. Our primary focus for CO 2 -to-methanol catalysts is the design of active and durable oxide-based catalysts. We first identify that the critical limitation of metal oxide catalysts is their poor H 2 activation capability, based on a comprehensive review of classical and state-of-the-art understanding of the CO 2 -to-methanol catalysts. Consequently, the principal catalyst design concept involves coupling metal promoters, which provide high H 2 activation functionality, with metal oxide catalysts that enable the adsorption of CO 2 and selective methanol synthesis. An essential synthetic approach is the doping of metal promoters on the surface of oxide catalysts. Specifically, atomically dispersed metal promoters significantly improve methanol yield by maximizing interfacial synergy with the oxide catalyst. A remarkable strateg...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Apart from membrane reactors, examples include structured reactors that optimize mass transfer and heat management . By embracing these emerging trends, the catalysis community can accelerate the materials and process development for sustainable CO 2 conversion into fuels, chemicals and even nutrients …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanism-Guided Catalyst Design for CO₂ Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol

et al. 2023

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“…Recent studies have explored the idea of producing food without agriculture, by synthesizing edible molecules through chemical and biological processes [168]. Unlike the growing market for plant-, cell-, or fungi-based proteins and meat substitutes [169], which are largely made up of processed agricultural commodities, the carbon contained in synthetically produced food may be derived from fossil fuels, waste carbon, or directly from the atmosphere, using feedstocks that are not the product of agricultural photosynthesis.…”

Section: Chemical and Biological Processes To Produce Food Without Ag...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving net-zero emissions in agriculture: a review

Rosa

Gabrielli

2023

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Agriculture accounts for 12% of global annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (7.1 Gt CO2 equivalent), primarily through non-CO2 emissions, namely methane (54%), nitrous oxide (28%), and carbon dioxide (18%). Thus, agriculture contributes significantly to climate change and is significantly impacted by its consequences. Here, we present a review of technologies and innovations for reducing GHG emissions in agriculture. These include decarbonizing on-farm energy use, adopting nitrogen fertilizers management technologies, alternative rice cultivation methods, and feeding and breeding technologies for reducing enteric methane. Combined, all these measures can reduce agricultural GHG emissions by up to 45%. However, residual emissions of 3.8 Gt CO2 equivalent per year will require offsets from carbon dioxide removal technologies to make agriculture net-zero. Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage and enhanced rock weathering are particularly promising techniques, as they can be implemented within agriculture and result in permanent carbon sequestration. While net-zero technologies are technically available, they come with a price premium over the status quo and have limited adoption. Further research and development are needed to make such technologies more affordable and scalable and understand their synergies and wider socio-environmental impacts. With support and incentives, agriculture can transition from a significant emitter to a carbon sink. This study may serve as a blueprint to identify areas where further research and investments are needed to support and accelerate a transition to net-zero emissions agriculture.

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“…Nevertheless, the food production is severely limited by the efficiency of natural photosynthesis, as the energy conversion efficiencies to biomass for most crop plants are only ~1% or less 2 . More crucially, traditional food production by cultivation is facing the challenges from sustainable development, such as overuse of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, as well as encountering geographical restrictions, such as global climate change, land scarcity, and shortage of fresh water 3 . As such, new approaches to enhancing the efficiency for food production, while reducing the dependency on natural resources and avoiding environmentally harmful chemicals, are greatly desired to supplement the traditional food production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar-driven sugar production directly from CO2 via a customizable electrocatalytic–biocatalytic flow system

Liu,

Zhong,

Liu

et al. 2024

Nat Commun

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Conventional food production is restricted by energy conversion efficiency of natural photosynthesis and demand for natural resources. Solar-driven artificial food synthesis from CO2 provides an intriguing approach to overcome the limitations of natural photosynthesis while promoting carbon-neutral economy, however, it remains very challenging. Here, we report the design of a hybrid electrocatalytic−biocatalytic flow system, coupling photovoltaics-powered electrocatalysis (CO2 to formate) with five-enzyme cascade platform (formate to sugar) engineered via genetic mutation and bioinformatics, which achieves conversion of CO2 to C6 sugar (L-sorbose) with a solar-to-food energy conversion efficiency of 3.5%, outperforming natural photosynthesis by over three-fold. This flow system can in principle be programmed by coupling with diverse enzymes toward production of multifarious food from CO2. This work opens a promising avenue for artificial food synthesis from CO2 under confined environments.

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Pathways to food from CO2 via ‘green chemical farming’

Cited by 8 publications

References 14 publications

Mechanism-Guided Catalyst Design for CO₂ Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol

Mechanism-Guided Catalyst Design for CO₂ Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol

Achieving net-zero emissions in agriculture: a review

Solar-driven sugar production directly from CO2 via a customizable electrocatalytic–biocatalytic flow system

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Pathways to food from CO2 via ‘green chemical farming’

Cited by 8 publications

References 14 publications

Mechanism-Guided Catalyst Design for CO2 Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol

Mechanism-Guided Catalyst Design for CO2 Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol

Achieving net-zero emissions in agriculture: a review

Solar-driven sugar production directly from CO2 via a customizable electrocatalytic–biocatalytic flow system

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Mechanism-Guided Catalyst Design for CO₂ Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol

Mechanism-Guided Catalyst Design for CO₂ Hydrogenation to Formate and Methanol