Carbon dioxide as a feedstock for the chemical industry. Production of green methanol

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO2) has a restricted use as a feedstock in the chemical industry. Its emission and accumulation in the atmosphere in great quantities have been largely associated to the greenhouse effect. Thus, the conversion of CO2 into value-added chemical products will bring on not only economical benefits but also far greater importance for the environmental stewardship. The hydrogenation of CO2 into methanol (CH3OH) is a promising route to fix CO2 in the chemical industry. The reaction can be carried out by Cu and Zn-based catalysts, which are highly selective to CH3OH formation. However, the reaction is severely affected by the thermodynamic equilibrium. Therefore, the effect of reaction temperature and pressure needs to be known in order to achieve high conversion rates of CO2 into CH3OH, thus allowing the development of feasible and highly efficient conversion processes.