Carbon Capture and Conversion: A Potential Game Changer for Clean Energy

The accelerating rise in global carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions poses a severe threat to environmental sustainability and energy security, necessitating solutions that extend beyond conventional carbon capture and storage (CCS). Carbon Capture and Conversion (CCC) has emerged as a promising alternative, enabling not only the mitigation of CO 2 emissions but also its transformation into fuels, chemicals, and materials of commercial value. This study provides a comprehensive review of CCC technologies, encompassing capture, separation, and conversion pathways, with a critical evaluation of their technology readiness levels (TRLs), energy requirements, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. The analysis identifies key research gaps, including limited progress on industrial scalability, insufficient techno-economic and life-cycle assessments, and inadequate consideration of financial and policy frameworks necessary for commercialization. Unlike earlier reviews, this work integrates both capture and conversion perspectives, thereby offering a holistic understanding of CCC as a pathway toward sustainable industrial practices and a circular carbon economy. The findings underscore the need for coordinated efforts in catalyst development, system integration, pilot-scale demonstrations, and policy support to accelerate the practical deployment of CCC technologies in alignment with global decarbonization goals.