The Chemistry Involved in CO2 Conversion: Challenges and Opportunities

Processes involving CO2 capture, storage and conversion are indispensable to reduce climate changes that threaten life in our planet. Although several global attempts have been carried out for decades, progress with national and world public policies is still slow and insufficient. CO2 emissions are a direct result of fossil fuel combustions, a yet essential activity to the planet's industrial development. According to SEEG (System for Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions), Brazil emitted approximately 2.16 billion of tons of carbon dioxide in 2020. Thus, the development of technologies able to minimize the amount of this pollutant in the atmosphere is extremely necessary. Nevertheless, processes of capture and storage cannot be the only way. Technologies able to transform this pollutant in molecules of greater economic and industrial value must be addressed too. Fronts of action for research in this area are gigantic, and heterogeneous catalysis can be one of the main solutions, since the engineering involved in the development of more active and selective catalysts is advancing. Every day new catalysts are produced, and the results obtained are more and more exciting. Zeolites with hierarchical pore structure arrive to further improve these processes and turn conversion of CO2 into an industrial reality.