Recent Understanding of Water‐Assisted CO₂ Hydrogenation to Alcohols

Abstract

Alcohol production from CO2 hydrogenation is a cutting‐edge process in sustainable chemistry that holds vast promise for addressing climate change by recycling and repurposing emissions. Many strategies have been proposed to improve the process efficiency. In‐situ generated, and trace amounts of water added to the feed stream have recently proved to be determinant to promote key reaction steps, increasing alcohol selectivity and yield. Here, we discuss the main findings that led to an atomic‐level understanding of water promotional effects in CO2 hydrogenation to alcohols. H2O and the products resultant from its dissociation (OH and O) can act in different ways, stabilizing intermediates and active sites or participating in the hydrogen transfer mechanisms during the reaction. Gaining insights into the mechanisms underlying water promotion offers a cost‐effective strategy for enhancing alcohol production efficiency.

CO2 Hydrogenation to Methanol over Mesoporous SiO2-Coated Cu-Based Catalysts

“…To effectively demonstrate the improvement in catalytic performance, the intrinsic activity of SiO 2 -coated and uncoated materials was compared using the turnover frequency (TOF), as shown in Table . Although the metal–metal oxide interface is crucial for binding CO 2 and facilitating reaction, , hydrogenation steps are generally the determining steps. , Therefore, we employed a metallic surface area as the active site for TOF calculations. Additionally, the affinity of CeO 2 and ZrO 2 surfaces with CO 2 results in the formation of passive surface carbonate species, making it challenging to distinguish them from active species through CO 2 -TPD analysis.…”