Dear Colleagues,

Achieving the NetZero goal across the world is beyond necessary—it is absolutely pivotal at this point. CCUS plays a significant role in this, and new approaches to CO₂ conversion must be considered. There are, however, several obstacles to the commercialization of CO₂ conversion processes. The economic aspect is one of these: following recent discussions around carbon credit, for example, carbon tax credit initiatives such as Session Q45 in the US are expected to be widely adopted in order to practically expand CO2 mitigation technology, their success being contingent upon TEA analysis. This potential change in economic environment serves as a motive toward the development of CO₂ conversion.

Another aspect to consider is that as renewable energy replaces fossil fuels in power plants, electrification is also expected to be expanded. This will lead to the processing of energy that emits CO₂ not being as big an issue for LCA analysis anymore, being replaced by the amount of electrification required in the process, which will be considered for both LCA and TEA. In this process, steam should be obtained from electrification, or direct electrification can be used for heat supply. Thus, the amount of input energy will be a particular concern for the development of future CO₂ conversion technology.

Finally, carbon-based products in a NetZero society should be manufactured mainly via CO₂ conversion technology. Clearly, power plants and chemical processes using fossil fuels can be maintained as long as CCUS can supply carbon-based products while simultaneously respecting the NetZero rule. Direct electrochemical CO₂ conversion will certainly grow in importance over time in this. At the moment, the importance of zero CO₂-emitting hydrogen economy cannot be overemphasized. As G.A. Olah claimed, the methanol economy is important from both an economic aspect as well as philosophical aspect. Attention should be drawn to C1 chemistry through CO₂ conversion to CO, hydrogenation, or hydrofomylation. Biomasses from fast and efficient natural photosynthesis such as green algae should be treated, and biomass refinery from green algae is under development.

This Special Issue aims to cover recent progress and advances in both catalysts and processes in the field of CO₂ conversion: (1) CO₂ hydrogenation, (2) monomer and polymer synthesis from CO₂, (3) electrochemical CO₂ reduction, (4) biomass utilization from green algae, (5) photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction, and (6) enzyme and microbial electrosynthesis from CO₂.

Submit your paper and select the Journal “Catalysts” and the Special Issue “Catalysis and Catalytic Processes for CO₂ Conversion toward NetZero” via: MDPI submission system. Please contact the Guest Editor or the journal editor ([email protected]) for any queries. Our papers will be published on a rolling basis and we will be pleased to receive your submission once you have finished it.

Dr. Kwang-Deog Jung
Prof. Dr. Jihun Oh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• CO₂ hydrogenation
• Organic carbonates
• Carboxylation
• Electrochemical CO₂ reduction
• Photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction
• Electroenzymatic CO₂ reduction
• Microbial electrosynthesis