Sustainable and Effective CO2 Fixation into Biobased Cyclic Carbonate

Abstract

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions contribute significantly to global warming and deplete fossil carbon resources, prompting a shift to bio-based raw materials. Approximately 35 Mt of CO2 is released each year, with less than half being emitted by large point sources that can be captured, stored, and utilized. The two main decarbonization strategies for reducing CO2 emissions are capturing and either storing (CCS) or utilizing it (CCU). Both technologies involve CO2 capture, compression, and storage or utilization using catalytic technologies. However, CCS consumes a lot of energy and provides a negative return on investment due to the associated cost of capturing and storing, whereas CCU consumes less energy, produces valuable products, and provides a net positive ROI because the product sold after manufacturing gives a profit. Climate change mitigation is the primary objective of CCS, whereas resource security is the main objective of CCU. The focus of the current review is based on developing a sustainable CO2 utilization method that consumes less energy. CO2 is a challenging CI-building block due to its high kinetic inertness and thermodynamic stability, requiring high temperature and pressure conditions and a reactive catalytic system. The chemical potential of CO2 can be utilized to produce fuels and chemicals. However, cyclic carbonate production by reacting epoxides and CO2 is a promising green and sustainable chemistry reaction, with enormous potential applications as an electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries, a green solvent, and a monomer in polycarbonate production. This review focuses on the most recent developments in the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from bio-based epoxides, as well as efficient methods for chemically transforming CO2 to versatile Cyclic carbonate (CC) and other valuable products using CC. Over the next decade, a growing synthetic technology industry may increase the rate at which CO2 is utilized to 350 Mt per year. By 2040, we could see a surge in the consumption of CO2 for chemicals, rising to around 1000 Mt per year, potentially making a considerable difference.