Sustainable Conversion of Carbon Dioxide: An Integrated Review of Catalysis and Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

CO conversion covers a wide range of possible application areas from fuels to bulk and commodity chemicals and even to specialty products with biological activity such as pharmaceuticals. In the present review, we discuss selected examples in these areas in a combined analysis of the state-of-the-art of synthetic methodologies and processes with their life cycle assessment. Thereby, we attempted to assess the potential to reduce the environmental footprint in these application fields relative to the current petrochemical value chain. This analysis and discussion differs significantly from a viewpoint on CO utilization as a measure for global CO mitigation. Whereas the latter focuses on reducing the end-of-pipe problem "CO emissions" from todays' industries, the approach taken here tries to identify opportunities by exploiting a novel feedstock that avoids the utilization of fossil resource in transition toward more sustainable future production. Thus, the motivation to develop CO-based chemistry does not depend primarily on the absolute amount of CO emissions that can be remediated by a single technology. Rather, CO-based chemistry is stimulated by the significance of the relative improvement in carbon balance and other critical factors defining the environmental impact of chemical production in all relevant sectors in accord with the principles of green chemistry.

Assessing the pKa‐Dependent Activity of Hydroxyl Hydrogen Bond Donors in the Organocatalyzed Cycloaddition of Carbon Dioxide to Epoxides: Experimental and Theoretical Study

“…[1] Organocatalysts are often readily accessible renewable compounds such as aminoacids, [2] peptides, [3] sugars [4] and vitamins [5] or their derivatives. [8] It leads to industrially relevant cyclic organic carbonates [9] that find increasing application as chemical intermediates [10] and green solvents. [6] The cycloaddition of CO 2 to epoxides [7] is counted among viable strategies for the chemical fixation of CO 2 into commodity chemicals.…”

Process Advantages of Direct CO2 to Methanol Synthesis

“…A pivotal point in human history is upon us where we can choose to change the course we are on and embark on a more sustainable one. One approach to a more sustainable future is to use CO 2 as the carbon source for fuels and carbon-based materials that are currently only derived from coal, oil and natural gas (Peters et al, 2011; Aresta et al, 2016; Landälv, 2017; Artz et al, 2018). Such an approach may have the dual effect of both removing CO 2 already in the atmosphere and recycling and reusing what is emitted during combustion, thereby forming a static CO 2 loop (Rahman et al, 2017).…”

Hybrid Metalloporphyrin Magnetic Nanoparticles as Catalysts for Sequential Transformation of Alkenes and CO2 into Cyclic Carbonates

“…[1,2] In this context, conversion of carbon dioxide into valuableo rganic chemicals [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] has become at opicw ith increasing awareness,w ith remarkable economic and environmental impacts. [1,2] In this context, conversion of carbon dioxide into valuableo rganic chemicals [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] has become at opicw ith increasing awareness,w ith remarkable economic and environmental impacts.…”