Homogeneous Catalysis for Sustainable Energy: Hydrogen and Methanol Economies, Fuels from Biomass, and Related Topics

2021/11/02 by Amit Kumar, Prosenjit Daw, David Milstein · 5 citations
Chemical Engineering · Engineering · #Catalysis and Hydrodesulfurization Studies #Catalysis for Biomass Conversion #Catalysts for Methane Reforming

paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00412

openalex publication_date 2021/11/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

As the world pledges to significantly cut carbon emissions, the demand for sustainable and clean energy has now become more important than ever. This includes both production and storage of energy carriers, a majority of which involve catalytic reactions. This article reviews recent developments of homogeneous catalysts in emerging applications of sustainable energy. The most important focus has been on hydrogen storage as several efficient homogeneous catalysts have been reported recently for (de)hydrogenative transformations promising to the hydrogen economy. Another direction that has been extensively covered in this review is that of the methanol economy. Homogeneous catalysts investigated for the production of methanol from CO 2 , CO, and HCOOH have been discussed in detail. Moreover, catalytic processes for the production of conventional fuels (higher alkanes such as diesel, wax) from biomass or lower alkanes have also been discussed. A section has also been dedicated to the production of ethylene glycol from CO and H 2 using homogeneous catalysts. Well-defined transition metal complexes, in particular, pincer complexes, have been discussed in more detail due to their high activity and well-studied mechanisms.

Citations

• Recent advances in the homogeneous hydrogenation of carbon dioxide
• Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt
• Direct Capture of CO 2 from Ambient Air
• Homogeneous Catalysis for Sustainable Hydrogen Storage in Formic Acid and Alcohols
• Recent Advances in Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation to Methanol via Heterogeneous Catalysis
• Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
• Hydrogenative Depolymerization of Nylons
• Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for hydrogenation of CO 2 to methanol under mild conditions

Cited by

• Rising Opportunities in Catalytic Dehydrogenative Polymerization
• Direct Synthesis of Polyesterether from Ethylene Glycol
• Advances in catalyst and reactor design for CO 2 electroreduction to methanol
• Divergent deazotation and nitrene group transfer pathways at cobalt phospha-triazene species
• Research progress in the preparation of sodium-ion battery anode materials using ball milling

Related

• Homogeneous Catalysis for Sustainable Hydrogen Storage in Formic Acid and Alcohols
• Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for hydrogenation of CO 2 to methanol under mild conditions
• Recycling Carbon Dioxide through Catalytic Hydrogenation: Recent Key Developments and Perspectives
• Challenges in the Greener Production of Formates/Formic Acid, Methanol, and DME by Heterogeneously Catalyzed CO2Hydrogenation Processes
• State of the art and perspectives in heterogeneous catalysis of CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol