Plasma-Catalytic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide

The emission of CO2 is a pressing concern as its release into the atmosphere is a major source of global warming. As global temperatures rise due to the greenhouse effect and current technologies, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and a switch to renewables, fall short, expertise must be employed to find new, viable processes for the mitigation of CO2. Focus is now on carbon dioxide utilization, as high-value chemicals and fuels can be produced, creating viable and sustainable processes. Current processes, however, such as thermal catalytic processes, require elevated temperatures and are not thermodynamically efficient, thus reducing their energy efficiency and feasibility. Plasma-catalytic processes have the potential to overcome these drawbacks due to their low-temperature operation and non-equilibrium characteristics which allow the high stability of the CO2 molecule to be overcome without the need for large energy inputs. A great number of reactions can potentially be carried out in a plasma-catalytic reactor, including CO2 decomposition, dry reforming of methane and CO2 hydrogenation; hence a great number of high-value products can be created (oxygenates, liquid hydrocarbons, syngas, etc.). This chapter describes this process in detail for a number of different reactions and discusses recent advances and challenges in this area.