CO2 photocatalysis at all scales: from electron densities to plant design
Photocatalysis has long offered a promising pathway to accomplish energetically expensive chemical reactions, like those involving carbon dioxide as a feedstock, at much lower energies due to the new reaction pathways that can be enabled by certain light-induced nanoscale mechanisms. The holy grail of using natural sunlight to drive these reactions that also use greenhouse gases as feedstock makes this a dream technology. In this talk, the photocatalytic operation of various kinds of photocatalysts will be presented, as well as the relative benefits of each mechanism to real-world operation. The principles and challenges surrounding scaling photocatalytic processes will be reviewed. Finally, using Solistra’s experience scaling a photocatalytic dry reforming process, the technical and non-technical challenges with bringing new commodity chemical technologies will be presented.