Turning carbon dioxide into gasoline is even more amazing than turning water into oil!

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The editor has learned from the Chinese Academy of Sciences that a team of researchers led by Sun Jian and Ge Qingjie from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the CAS has discovered a new process for the efficient conversion of CO2. They also developed a novel Na-Fe3O4/HZSM-5 multifunctional composite catalyst, which enabled the direct hydrogenation of carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce high-octane gasoline for the first time. Multiple invention patents have been filed for this process and the catalytic materials involved. The research findings were published on the 2nd in the British academic journal Nature Communications, and were described as a \"breakthrough in the field of CO2 catalytic conversion.\" Carbon dioxide hydrogenation “turned into” gasoline. Nature Communications is the third-most influential multidisciplinary journal in the world, second only to Nature and Science. When it was founded in 2010, the journal was a hybrid publication that published papers in both open-access and subscription formats, receiving around 1,500 submissions per month. All scientific research published in this journal represents significant advances in a particular field, covering disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry, and earth sciences. Challenge: Activation and selective conversion of CO2. In nature, plants absorb CO2 from the air and convert it into organic compounds and oxygen through photosynthesis; this process is slow, which is why chemists have been striving to recover and utilize CO2 through chemical methods. If gasoline is produced using CO2 as a raw material, it would represent a clean energy strategy that could serve as a potential alternative to fossil fuels; it would not only help reduce the greenhouse effect caused by CO2 but also lessen dependence on traditional fossil fuels. Turning carbon dioxide into gasoline is even more amazing than turning water into oil! Scientists explain that using CO2 as a raw material to produce gasoline is a potential clean energy strategy as an alternative to fossil fuels, but the activation and selective conversion of CO2 pose challenges. Sun Jian said, “Compared to its more reactive ‘twin brother’, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide molecules are very stable and difficult to activate. Compared with the traditional Fischer-Tropsch synthesis route, the catalytic reaction of CO2 with hydrogen molecules tends to produce small molecular compounds such as methane, methanol, and formic acid, rather than long-chain liquid hydrocarbon fuels.” ” Technical advantages: According to a report by Science Network on May 3, to address this issue, the research team developed an efficient and stable Na-Fe3O4/HZSM-5 multifunctional composite catalyst. Sun Jian explained that this catalyst has three advantages: First, under conditions close to those of industrial production, it achieves low selectivity for methane and carbon monoxide; the selectivity for gasoline-range hydrocarbons (C5-C11) among the hydrocarbon products reaches 78%, which is advantageous for large-scale production ； Secondly, the gasoline produced by this method meets environmental regulations; its components are mainly high-octane isoparaffins and aromatics, which essentially satisfy the requirements set by the National V standard regarding the composition of benzene, aromatics, and olefins ； Thirdly, this catalyst also possesses good stability, enabling it to operate continuously and stably for over 1,000 hours, which indicates potential application prospects. Furthermore, studies on the reaction pathways for the direct conversion of CO2 into gasoline show that precise control over the multi-active site structure and its pro*mity effect is key to achieving the hydrogenation of CO2 to produce gasoline. This technology not only opens up new avenues for research on the hydrogenation of CO2 to produce liquid fuels, but also provides new ways to utilize intermittent renewable energy sources (wind, solar, hydroelectric, etc.).