BACKGROUND: The IEA recognises that CO₂-derived products will play a global role in reducing CO₂ emissions, but only if their demand exceeds 10 MtCO₂/year. CO₂-based fuels can drastically increase the demand and consumption of captured CO₂ by up to 2050 Mt/year as a sustainable energy vector. Methanol synthesis via CO₂ hydrogenation is less exothermic; utilises simpler and more efficient reactors and heat exchangers; lowering operational costs. However, the water products and accompanying water-gas-shift, expedites catalyst deactivation. This process can be industrially competitive if optimal operating conditions are identified, including exploring the influence of catalyst morphology and physicochemical properties for greater activity and methanol selectivity. Kinetic models already exist for the industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst yet there is a need to optimise performance for varying operating conditions, CO₂ feedstock and process integration.

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS: Long-term research needs to address its feasibility at different scales, sectors and applications, types and proportion of fuel blends; optimisation of the catalyst, reactor and system; etc. Immediate research project will upgrade a recently developed state-of-the-art multiphase scale-up tool to incorporate more detailed intra- and inter-catalytic behaviour under varying operational conditions and varying waste feedstock compositions for the synthesis of a particular fuel, e.g., methanol and potentially for SAF.