Austrian Research: Converting CO2 to Methanol

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Ngày cập nhật gần nhất: 15/4/2026

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Profit from Emissions

Sulfur and Molybdenum

The Vienna University of Technology in Austria has developed a chemical process using special catalysts to transform environmentally harmful CO2 gas into methanol. This new technology has been patented and will be scaled up for industrial use.

Profit from Emissions

When large industrial plants emit massive amounts of exhaust gases, CO2 gas can be fully utilized to provide the most effective value. The idea of converting CO2 into valuable products is not new, but it is a relatively difficult and complex task. Sometimes CO2 needs to be separated first, increasing input costs and energy consumption.

Professor Karin Föttinger from the Institute of Materials Chemistry at Vienna University of Technology stated: “Traditionally, copper-based catalysts have been used for CO2 conversion. However, they have a major drawback of instability. If there are other substances in the exhaust gas besides CO2, such as sulfur, the catalysts will quickly lose their activity, also known as poisoning.”

Therefore, Karin Föttinger and her research team sought a better material, so that this method could not only remain in the laboratory but also be scaled up for industrial purposes.

Sulfur and Molybdenum

The research team has demonstrated that sulfur and molybdenum-based catalysts can meet the requirements. Special additives like manganese ensure that CO2 is activated and converted without deactivation. In this way, we can produce methanol from CO2-containing emissions.

The professor mentioned: “Liquid methanol can be stored at room temperature without any issues. Methanol is highly demanded in industries and traditionally, it has been produced from fossil fuels. Now, our catalysts can be used to create different molecules, such as higher alcohols. We are still researching to find the best way to adjust parameters like pressure and temperature to produce various products.”

According to TU Wien

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