Plasma Processing of Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

The world is facing huge environmental problems due to the increasing emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industries and various resources. Therefore, immediate attention is required for the utilization of CO2. Fortunately, CO2 can be converted to value-added products and fuels by various processes. Out of these processes, plasma has the highest potential, ascribed to the high bond stability of CO2. Out of the existing plasmas, non-thermal plasma is a promising area to convert CO2 to various chemical products and fuels, at temperatures as low as room temperature and pressures around/lower than atmospheric pressure. Therefore, there is an immediate need to pay attention to the recent progress of various non-thermal plasmas. The review brings both researchers’ and industries’ attention to the critical non-thermal plasmas like microwave, dielectric barrier discharge, and gliding arc discharge, with particular attention to microwave plasma. These plasmas have a high potential for producing value-added products having high market values. There is an immediate need from researchers and industries to carry out further studies in this emerging area for sustainable development with due attention to the environment.