CO2 conversion using non-thermal plasmas: The path towards industrialisation

Abstract

Converting carbon dioxide into useful products offers a pathway to reduce CO₂ emissions and an opportunity to transform renewable energy into energy carriers and/or high-value products. Unlike traditional thermal chemical technologies, non-thermal plasma CO₂ conversion processes are well suited to coupling to renewable energy sources. However, the technology readiness level of such plasma processes is low, and a significant gap between existing fundamental research and industrial application remains. After briefly summarising the available non-thermal plasma technologies for CO₂ conversion, criteria for successful industrialisation are considered, and recent progress towards considering and meeting the technical and economic requirements is analysed. The needs identified include using consistent energy efficiency calculations that consider losses in the power supply and elsewhere, improved reactor design for plasma catalytic processes, detailed techno-economic analyses, and studies of the integration of individual plasma reactors into a modularised system and a complete chemical process.