Yao, and 16 co-authors, reported in late 2020 that with mounting concerns over climate change, the utilization or conversion of carbon dioxide into sustainable, synthetic hydrocarbons fuels, most notably for transportation purposes, continues to attract worldwide interest. This is particularly true in the search for sustainable or renewable aviation fuels. These offer considerable potential since, instead of consuming fossil crude oil, the fuels are produced from carbon dioxide using sustainable renewable hydrogen and energy.
The authors reported on a synthetic protocol to the fixation of carbon dioxide by converting it directly into aviation jet fuel using novel, inexpensive iron-based catalysts. We prepare the Fe-Mn-K catalyst by the so-called Organic Combustion Method, and the catalyst shows a carbon dioxide conversion through hydrogenation to hydrocarbons in the aviation jet fuel range of 38.2%, with a yield of 17.2%, and a selectivity of 47.8%, and with an attendant low carbon monoxide (5.6%) and methane selectivity (10.4%). The conversion reaction also produces light olefins ethylene, propylene, and butenes, totaling a yield of 8.7%, which are important raw materials for the petrochemical industry and are presently also only obtained from fossil crude oil.
As this carbon dioxide is extracted from air, and re-emitted from jet fuels when combusted in flight, the overall effect is a carbon-neutral fuel. This contrasts with jet fuels produced from hydrocarbon fossil sources where the combustion process unlocks the fossil carbon and places it into the atmosphere, in longevity, as aerial carbon - carbon dioxide.
The authors concluded that the rising concerns over the stringent environmental regulations to deplete the utilization of fossil-derived fuels have generated great opportunities—and major scientific challenges—on the transformation of CO2 into sustainable, synthetic hydrocarbons fuels, particularly in the synthesis of renewable aviation fuels. At the heart of any progress in this area, the all-important conversion process is closely related to the development of advanced catalysts of high performance for the CO2 hydrogenation reaction. Therefore, the utilization of novel methods of catalyst preparation represents an important strategy to produce advanced catalytic formulations having high-performance levels. Among the catalyst synthesis methods, the so-called OCM is recognized as an energy-efficient and economically viable approach for the one-pot synthesis of a variety of nanostructured solid catalysts. In this method, the utilization of an organic fuel, having also a cation-complexation character, to yield a homogenous redox solution of the different metal precursors is highly advantageous. In addition, a relatively moderate self-sustaining exothermic reaction of the redox gel may be beneficial to produce the necessary nanostructured catalysts with an efficient promoter effect due to the well-controlled aqueous chemistry of the preparation route and ensuing combustion conditions.
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