The teraton challenge. A review of fixation and transformation of carbon dioxide

Abstract

The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is linked to climate changes; hence there is an urgent need to reduce the accumulation of CO₂ in the atmosphere. The utilization of CO₂ as a raw material in the synthesis of chemicals and liquid energy carriers offers a way to mitigate the increasing CO₂ buildup. This review covers six important CO₂ transformations namely: chemical transformations, photochemical reductions, chemical and electrochemical reductions, biological conversions, reforming and inorganic transformations. Furthermore, the vast research area of carbon capture and storage is reviewed briefly. This review is intended as an introduction to CO₂, its synthetic reactions and their possible role in future CO₂ mitigation schemes that has to match the scale of man-made CO₂ in the atmosphere, which rapidly approaches 1 teraton.