Abstract
Managing the concentration of atmospheric CO2 requires a multifaceted engineering strategy, which remains a highly challenging task. Reducing atmospheric CO2 (CO2R) by converting it to value-added chemicals in a carbon neutral footprint manner must be the ultimate goal. The latest progress in CO2R through either abiotic (artificial catalysts) or biotic (natural enzymes) processes is reviewed herein. Abiotic CO2R can be conducted in the aqueous phase that usually leads to the formation of a mixture of CO, formic acid, and hydrogen. By contrast, a wide spectrum of hydrocarbon species is often observed by abiotic CO2R in the gaseous phase. On the other hand, biotic CO2R is often conducted in the aqueous phase and a wide spectrum of value-added chemicals are obtained. Key to the success of the abiotic process is understanding the surface chemistry of catalysts, which significantly governs the reactivity and selectivity of CO2R. However, in biotic CO2R, operation conditions and reactor design are crucial to reaching a neutral carbon footprint. Future research needs to look toward neutral or even negative carbon footprint CO2R processes. Having a deep insight into the scientific and technological aspect of both abiotic and biotic CO2R would advance in designing efficient catalysts and microalgae farming systems. Integrating the abiotic and biotic CO2R such as microbial fuel cells further diversifies the spectrum of CO2R.
Highlights
Controlling atmospheric CO2 concentration is essential to the mitigation of global warming
This review focuses on recent advances of CO2 reduction (CO2R) systems, both biotic and abiotic processes, and as far as the broad view of CO2 conversion is concerned, three significant implications are noted [15]
Mitigating greenhouse gas effect: Electrocatalytic CO2R is usually conducted with high-purity CO2 based on thermodynamics considerations
Summary
Controlling atmospheric CO2 concentration is essential to the mitigation of global warming. Mitigating greenhouse gas effect: Electrocatalytic CO2R is usually conducted with high-purity CO2 based on thermodynamics considerations This means that additional electricity is required for concentrating CO2 feedstock; the majority of electricity in modern society is produced through fossil fuels. (2019) have developed a 20 MWth solar–wind biodistributed energy system for simultaneously biomass cascade utilization, water resource conservation, waste heat recovery, and CO2 mitigation for hydrogen, formic acid, and grapheme production [27] In their framework, the energy efficiency is vulnerable to the compromised selectivity of electrocatalytic CO2R. Based on the above considerations, it is clear that the success of a CO2R industry strongly relies on multidiscipline cooperation and that technology is part of this Additional bonuses such as creating jobs, building blocks for chemicals, and carbon right trading would make CO2R more sustainable. Additional considerations such as the involvement of other stakeholders that allow CO2R to be more sustainable are discussed
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