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State of the Art and Future Prospects for Catalytic and Electrochemical Routes to CO2 Conversion

A techno-economic investigation commissioned by the members of the Carbon Dioxide Capture & Conversion (CO2CC) Program

See PPT Deck here (as PDF) | See Report of TofC here (as PDF)

The Catalyst Group Resources (TCGR) continues to provide forward-looking advice in its new multi-client and select-client reports along with those delivered for its membership programs.

Members of TCGR’s Carbon Dioxide Capture and Conversion (CO2CC) Program understand that CO2 conversion is a critical topic in need of research and innovation. TCGR thus proposed a new report to address the improvements since our last assessment in 2018. TCGR is sharing access to a PowerPoint Deck which extracts the important and salient findings from this recently completed techno-economic report entitled, State of the Art and Future Prospects for Catalytic and Electrochemical Routes to CO2 Conversion. This report was developed as one of the three reports delivered in 2022 exclusively to members of our CO2CC Program.

A critical feature of the CO2CC Program is its members-only techno-economic reports, where topics are selected by ballot and where contents are shaped by members’ Table of Contents inputs.

TCGR’s report, State of the Art and Future Prospects for Catalytic and Electrochemical Routes to CO2 Conversion, provides a comprehensive review of technologies and routes to CO2 conversion into bulk chemicals, fuels, building blocks for polymer materials, etc., by substituting fossil-based routes. Furthermore, this report aims at providing a techno-economic investigation to provide insight with regards to the commercial attractiveness of different technologies and routes for CO2 conversion.

The need to meet NetZero climate change goals by 2050 has driven interest in CO2 conversion. There is considerable breadth in terms of technologies put forward to perform CO2 conversions including electrochemical, biological, and conventional catalytic methods. Each has a unique set of challenges, opportunities, and suitability. This report covers the range of available technologies for converting CO2 and discusses in-depth the developing state-of-the-art technological routes.

Figure 1: Perspective use of CO2 that can be converted into chemicals and fuels. Short term: 5-7 y; Medium term: 8-12 y; Long term: 15+ y. Assembled by M. Aresta, 2022.

The report is organized into four core chapters which analyze the thermocatalytic (Chapter 2), electrocatalytic (Chapter 3) and biocatalytic (Chapter 4) routes, along with an analysis of the emerging area of bioelectrocatalytic possibilities (Chapter 5). In addition, there is a short initial chapter (Chapter 1) presenting the sources of CO2 and the utilization of value chains. The chapters analyze the different routes and options, some background mechanistic elements, the techno-economic and life-cycle assessment (LCA) aspects, and present some key challenges, particularly for upscaling and commercialization. The scope of the report is a deep dive into each of the indicated technologies together with an analysis of the techno-economic challenges and outlook for the future.

There are many different technologies in development for reducing the carbon footprint of chemicals and fuels and it is a complex task to understand which is feasible on a techno-economic level, how soon it would likely be available and the kinds of hurdles which need to be overcome to achieve commercialization. This report is intended to address these questions and to provide a foundation of knowledge on the different technologies available along with a realistic view of their potential for implementation.

By the direction of the member companies (through balloting and other interactive means) and operated by TCGR, the CO2CC Program delivers weekly monitoring communications via email (CO2CC Communiqués), three techno-economic reports (highly referenced and peer reviewed) and scheduled meetings of members (either in-person or via webinar). Access to deliverables is exclusive to members.

In addition to the program deliverables, TCGR works with members to identify and foster competitive advantage and opportunity. This value-added relationship, along with active participation by the membership, leads to improved (or unique) external R&D and commercial investment possibilities.

Don’t be left behind! Align with leading industrial member-companies like BASF, Braskem, CEPSA, Dow, LyondellBasell, Reliance, Shell and TotalEnergies, among others in the CO2 conversion space by joining the CO2CC Program today. This is the only way to get TCGR’s in-depth and unparalleled report, State of the Art and Future Prospects for Catalytic and Electrochemical Routes to CO2 Conversion.

More information about this report and other services of the CO2CC Program can be seen at http://www.catalystgrp.com/php/tcgr_co2cc.php.

Call +1-215-628-4447 or e-mail Chris Dziedziak at cdziedziak@catalystgrp.com, and we’ll be happy to discuss these and other interesting membership benefits.

The Catalyst Group Resources (TCGR), a member of The Catalyst Group, is dedicated to monitoring and analyzing technical and commercial developments in catalysis as they apply to the global refining, petrochemical, fine/specialty chemical, pharmaceutical, polymer/elastomer and environmental industries.