Scientists crack a decades-old CO2 problem and triple fuel production

A new catalyst design could significantly improve the conversion of CO2 into methanol, an important fuel and chemical feedstock. Researchers separated key reaction steps across different catalyst sites, avoiding a long-standing trade-off between speed and efficiency. The result was about three times more methanol production than standard commercial catalysts. At lower temperatures, converting CO2 into methanol is thermodynamically favorable. The problem is that CO2 becomes difficult to activate under these conditions, resulting in weak catalytic performance. Raising the temperature speeds up the reaction,... [1863 chars]