A Critical Perspective on CO₂ Conversions into Chemicals and Fuels

Abstract

In this paper, we aim to focus on the utilization of carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a feedstock for synthetic applications in chemical and fuel industries, through catalytic carboxylation and reduction reactions. Thermal catalytic conversion as well as non-thermal plasma assisted and photocatalytic conversion CO₂ into fuels such as methane, methanol, and long-chain hydrocarbons using different catalyst especially nano catalyst are also thoroughly compared and reviewed in this paper. Among currently available technical routes, the thermal catalytic conversion of CO₂ via the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis using nanoscale catalyst offers the most feasible, practical and mature alternative for industrial-scale applications on the short term basis, converting gigantic quantity of CO₂ captured from power plants into hydrocarbons.