Alternative Catalytic Reactors for CO₂ Hydrogenation to Liquid Fuels

Liquid fuels obtained from CO2 and green hydrogen (i.e. e-fuels) are powerful tools for decarbonization of the economy. Improvements provided by Process Intensification in the existing conventional reactors aim toward a decrease in energy consumption, higher yield and more compact and sure processes. This review describes the advances in the production of methanol, dimethyl ether and hydrocarbons by Fischer-Tropsch using different tools of Process Intensification, mainly membrane reactors, sorption enhanced reactors and structured reactors. Due to the environmental interest, the review on methanol and dimethyl ether synthesis is mainly devoted to systems based in a feed with CO2+H2, while for Fischer-Tropsch the use of syngas (CO+H2) is also considered. Both mathematical models and experimental results are discussed. Achievements in the improvement of catalytic reactor performance are described.