Catalytic utilization of carbon dioxide as renewable feedstock for production of chemicals and fuels

"The utilization of CO2 as a renewable feedstock for producing commodity chemicals and fuels is an interesting challenge to explore new concepts and opportunities in catalysis and industrial chemistry. This sustainable approach not only leads to production of useful chemicals, but also has the potential to mitigate anthropogenic CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. CO2 itself is a sustainable and inexhaustibly available carbon source, however, it is inextricably linked to its inherent inertness. It is a thermodynamically stable molecule (ΔGf = -394.01 kJ.mol-1) with high oxidation state, hence, reactions of CO2 must be combined with a high-energy reactant to gain a thermodynamic driving force. It has been shown that catalytic reaction is the best strategy to address this challenge. Although several processes for production of urea, methanol, and salicylic acid have been developed through CO2 utilization, many of them rely on extremes of temperature and pressure to work. Owing to the growing energy demand and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, it is desirable to identify effective hydrocarbon transformation reactions in tandem with CO2 conversion. Research on direct transformation of light paraffins -such as methane, ethane and propane into light olefins -such as ethylene and propylene and aromatics has gained considerable importance recently because of its potential large-scale implementation for production of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics and liquid fuels from C1-C4 hydrocarbons in the shale gas. The catalytic conversion of propane into propylene in the presence of CO2 as a soft oxidant opens opportunities to simultaneously reduce CO2 to CO and convert paraffin into value-added products"--Abstract, page iv.