Recent Progress in Thermocatalytic Liquid Phase CO2 Conversion to Bulk Chemicals and Fuels

The increasing levels of greenhouse gas emissions highlight the need for recycling CO2 as a building block and moving away from nonrenewable resources. The conversion of CO2 into valuable products, such as bulk chemicals and fuels, is crucial. This Account focuses on the production of C1 chemicals (formaldehyde, formic acid, and methanol) and C2+ chemicals (acetic acid, ethanol, methyl formate, and oxymethylene ether) as viable options. The use of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts has been evaluated based on their performance, reaction pathway, and optimizations. Although catalyst development has progressed to demonstrating high selectivity and yield toward products, there is limited information relevant to achieving sustainable production of these commodities. This gap in information is key for commercializing successful catalysts. For a net-zero emission transition, it is imperative to use green CO2 and H2 in CO2 hydrogenation reactions, driven by renewable energy. These enabling technologies will further advance the development and scale of the CO2 conversion processes.