In the case of Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, catalysts for direct CO 2 utilisation are still in an early stage. Furthermore, four major process routes for power-to-DME are possible, requiring additional research to determine the optimal concept. While DME synthesis offers benefits with regards to energy efficiency, operational experience from laboratory tests and pilot plants is still missing. However, increased water formation and lower equilibrium conversion necessitate new catalysts and reactor designs.
For methanol the direct CO 2 hydrogenation offers advantages through less by-product formation and lower heat development. In comparison power-to-DME is much less investigated and in an earlier stage of development. In the case of power-to-methanol and power-to-FT-fuels, several pilot plants have been realised and the first commercial scale plants are planned or already in operation. It should serve as a benchmark for future concepts, guide researchers in their process development and allow a technological evaluation of alternative reactor designs. This review provides an overview of state of the art synthesis technologies as well as current developments and pilot plants for the most prominent PtL routes for methanol, DME and Fischer–Tropsch-fuels. However, PtL poses new challenges for the synthesis: away from syngas-based, continuously run, large-scale plants towards more flexible, small-scale concepts with direct CO 2-utilisation. With their higher energy densities compared to gases, the use of synthetic liquid fuels is particularly interesting in hard-to-abate sectors for which decarbonisation is difficult. The conversion of H 2 and CO 2 to liquid fuels via Power-to-Liquid (PtL) processes is gaining attention.
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