Importance of catalysts for CO2 to value
For those wondering what the CO2 conversion to all sorts of things craze is all about, I can tell you at least one thing all of them are most certainly about: Catalysts.
Most pathways for conversion of CO2 to value depend on catalysts to do the job, and do it fast.
You see, CO2 is like the lazy lad – he just hangs about, has little initiative, and takes forever to get anything done. Such chaps need someone to really get them moving – a dominant parent, a ruthless teacher or better yet, a pretty girl.
The inert nature of CO2 under most conditions implies that it needs that “someone” to make it react with other substances and produce stuff – think of the amazing transformation a pretty girl can bring about in a lazy lad.
Our specialty focus areas include
Net Zero by Narsi
Insights and interactions on climate action by Narasimhan Santhanam, Director - EAI
View full playlistIf optimal catalysts are identified, who knows, one could be looking at producing fuels, chemicals and materials from CO2 much faster and much cheaper.
While the good news is that the world of science is quite familiar with catalysts (the first known use of a catalyst was in 1552!), the challenge is that the world of catalysts is wide. While there are indeed some prominent metal catalysts many of us would have heard about (Titanium, platinum, iron, cobalt), there can be many others, many other combinations (heterogeneous catalysts), and use of different catalysts for many specific conditions (say, for photochemical or photoelectrochemical reactions) that the world has not discovered yet.
And then there are biological catalysts, or enzymes; useful chemicals produced by micro-critters (bacteria, fungi, yeast…) and also by something else we all know so well – our own bodies. Human bodies alone secrete over a thousand different enzymes, and without them, you will not be…you. (I liked this well written intro to enzymes in our bodies – https://lnkd.in/gy2hx4cp )
2000+ industrial enzymes have been identified with most of them produced mainly through the use of microorganisms.
But the current market size might be chump change if markets such as CO2 to value explode – optimistically, the CO2 to value market is expected to total well over a trillion $ by 2030, serious, I did not make this up!
The exciting world of catalysts beckons an array of businesses, science and engineering professionals – especially those belonging to chemical sciences, biotechnology & material sciences
Know more CO2 to value insights from CLIMAX – https://lnkd.in/gvDfnevp
