Recent progress in thermocatalytic liquid phase CO₂ conversion to bulk chemicals and fuels

The increasing levels of greenhouse gas emissions highlight the need for recycling CO₂ as a building block and moving away from nonrenewable resources. The conversion of CO₂ into valuable products, such as bulk chemicals and fuels, is crucial. This Account focuses on the production of C₁ chemicals (formaldehyde, formic acid, and methanol) and C₂₊ chemicals (acetic acid, ethanol, methyl formate, and oxymethylene ether) as viable options. The use of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts has been evaluated based on their performance, reaction pathway, and optimizations. Although catalyst development has progressed to demonstrating high selectivity and yield toward products, there is limited information relevant to achieving sustainable production of these commodities. This gap in information is key for commercializing successful catalysts. For a net-zero emission transition, it is imperative to use green CO₂ and H₂ in CO₂ hydrogenation reactions, driven by renewable energy. These enabling technologies will further advance the development and scale of the CO₂ conversion processes.