Recycling of carbon dioxide to methanol and derived products – closing the loop

Abstract

Starting with coal, followed by petroleum oil and natural gas, the utilization of fossil fuels has allowed the fast and unprecedented development of human society. However, the burning of these resources in ever increasing pace is accompanied by large amounts of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which are outpacing the natural carbon cycle, causing adverse global environmental changes, the full extent of which is still unclear. Even through fossil fuels are still abundant, they are nevertheless limited and will, in time, be depleted. Chemical recycling of CO2 to renewable fuels and materials, primarily methanol, offers a powerful alternative to tackle both issues, that is, global climate change and fossil fuel depletion. The energy needed for the reduction of CO2 can come from any renewable energy source such as solar and wind. Methanol, the simplest C1 liquid product that can be easily obtained from any carbon source, including biomass and CO2, has been proposed as a key component of such an anthropogenic carbon cycle in the framework of a "Methanol Economy". Methanol itself is an excellent fuel for internal combustion engines, fuel cells, stoves, etc. It's dehydration product, dimethyl ether, is a diesel fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) substitute. Furthermore, methanol can be transformed to ethylene, propylene and most of the petrochemical products currently obtained from fossil fuels. The conversion of CO2 to methanol is discussed in detail in this review.

Production of methanol from CO2 electroreduction at Cu2O and Cu2O/ZnO-based electrodes in aqueous solution

“…The major reduction products are carbon monoxide (CO), formic acid (HCOOH), formaldehyde (CH2O), methanol (CH3OH), oxalic acid (H2C2O4), methane (CH4), ethylene (CH2CH2) or ethanol (CH3CH2OH) [9][10][11]. Among these possible reduction products, CH3OH, with relatively high energy density and stable storage properties, is regarded as a feasible approach and recent progress has been made in developing new solutions to enhance its yield and efficiency in the electrochemical reduction of CO2 [7,12]. Besides, CH3OH can be used as a feedstock for the production of liquid fuels such as dimethyl ether (DME), synthetic gasoline and several organic compounds [13].…”

Effects of temperature and gas–liquid mass transfer on the operation of small electrochemical cells for the quantitative evaluation of CO2reduction electrocatalysts

“…[1][2][3] Electrochemical reduction of CO 2 (CO2R) has been proposed as one possible technology for the production of fuels from CO 2 using electricity obtained from renewable sources. [4][5][6][7] Studies of CO2R in aqueous solution date back to the 1950s, 8 and an extensive and thorough body of work was published by Hori and co-workers starting in the 1980s. [9][10][11][12][13][14] This work identified the key challenges in implementing electrochemical CO2R for fuel or chemical synthesis.…”

The Technical and Energetic Challenges of Separating (Photo)Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction Products

“…Ethanol and biodiesel, the primary two biofuels, together contribute less than 2 EJ to the nearly 300 EJ consumed annually. Goeppert et al (2014), Indexmundi (2017, MRC (2014), Research and Markets (2016) While the production of each additional EJ of low-GHG fuels from CO 2 would be a significant contribution, a 10% reduction in global (fossil) fuel demand would require ~30 EJ annually. Therefore, the substitution of a CO 2 RR product for a fossil-generated product with a small global demand does not constitute a globally-scalable GHG reduction solution.…”

“…Surveying the current state-of-the-art in CO 2 RR electrocatalysis (Centi and Perathoner, 2010;Li, 2010;Kuhl et al, 2012;Costentin et al, 2013;Jhong et al, 2013;Qiao et al, 2014;Goeppert et  Fischer-Tropsch synthesis can be used to effectively convert easy-to-produce reagents (H 2 and CO) into long-chain hydrocarbons including those directly compatible with gasoline-, diesel-or jet fuel-burning engines. Another advantage of the approach is that it is exothermic, requiring in principle no additional energy inputs.…”