Utilisation of CO2 as a chemical feedstock: opportunities and challenges

TLDR

Reducing atmospheric CO₂ requires new technologies, and using CO₂ as a building block offers a potentially less carbon‑ and energy‑intensive synthetic route. The paper examines CO₂’s properties and metal interactions, its use as a raw material for chemicals, and compares chemical and biotechnological conversion routes while highlighting exploitation barriers. It describes using CO₂ as a carbon source for fuels and C1 molecules such as formic acid and methanol, outlining the implementation conditions.

Abstract

The need to reduce the accumulation of CO(2) into the atmosphere requires new technologies able to reduce the CO(2) emission. The utilization of CO(2) as a building block may represent an interesting approach to synthetic methodologies less intensive in carbon and energy. In this paper the general properties of carbon dioxide and its interaction with metal centres is first considered. The potential of carbon dioxide as a raw material in the synthesis of chemicals such as carboxylates, carbonates, carbamates is then discussed. The utilization of CO(2) as source of carbon for the synthesis of fuels or other C(1) molecules such as formic acid and methanol is also described and the conditions for its implementation are outlined. A comparison of chemical and biotechnological conversion routes of CO(2) is made and the barriers to their exploitation are highlighted.