Enabling the Methanol Economy: Opportunities and Challenges for Heterogeneous Catalysis in the Production of Liquid Fuels via Methanol

Conspectus Thirty years ago, George A. Olah proposed the concept of the methanol economy, where methanol replaces fossil fuels as a means of energy storage, ground transportation fuel, and raw material for the manufacture of other carbon-based products. Over the years, with rising global warming concerns, the concept has evolved. A special interest is devoted to the development of catalytic processes that allow the transformation of carbon dioxide, via methanol, into CO 2 neutral liquid hydrocarbons. These products could replace the oil-based fuels currently used by combustion engines. The rapid depletion of such fuels would avoid a considerable amount of CO 2 emissions during the current energy transition. Over the past decade, we have focused on different key processes that should allow for maximal atom efficiency and, therefore, minimal energy consumption in a field, CO 2 valorization, that can easily become a zero-sum game. In this Account, we highlight the importance of catalyst design to overcome the process challenges in the production of liquid fuels from methanol. Additionally, progress in multifunctional catalysts able to directly convert, in one single reactor, CO 2 to liquid fuels is also discussed in detail. This integrated option is of particular interest since it allows an important decrease in operational units while increasing throughput by converting, in situ, a thermodynamically limited intermediate.