Abstract
(English)
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The RUCADI project allowed : (i) assessment of concentrated continuous, point sources of CO2 , large enough for recovery/reuse/disposal (ii) evaluation of the existing CO2 separation technologies (iii) assessment of the actual structure of the CO2 market and of the future scenarios (iv) evaluation of the state of the art of all kinds (from large to small scale) chemical processes making use of CO2, including also supercritical CO2, and of the future areas of expansion (v) comparison of the existing and new processes making use of CO2 with a particular focus on their environmental impact, energetics, economics, quality of products and added value of innovation. The contribution of our laboratory to the project consisted in a critical evaluation of various electrochemical and photochemical processes of CO2 fixation/reduction in view of their possible industrial applications. In this connection, electrocarboxylation reactions, consisting in incorporation of CO2 into carbon-carbon double or triple bonds to form carboxylic acids, offer an attractive route to the synthesis of a large number of industrially important intermediates. This class of processes, operating in general under mild conditions and leading to the formation of high value added chemicals, has the best prospects for the medium-term industrial application. On the other hand, electrochemical CO2 reduction to form a liquid product, such as formic acid or methanol, appears as a possible option for the storage of electrical energy produced by solar or nuclear power stations. In view of the present state of the art, formic acid which can be produced with good current efficiencies and at reasonably high rates appears as the best candidate. The latter compound can be easily decomposed into hydrogen and CO2 ,and also directly employed in a fuel cell.
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