Carboxylation reactions for integrating CO2 capture with the production of renewable monomers

Research advances in carboxylation reactions using CO2 and light organic molecules of renewable origin are reviewed in this work, especially considering chemical catalytic approaches. Carboxylation, one of the most promising carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies, has a double environmental benefit, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by developing sustainable processes for commodity synthesis. The industrial interest is based on its potential use in the synthesis of biopolymer precursors from bioplatform molecules such as ethanol or furfural. Acrylic acid is obtained from ethylene (after ethanol dehydration), by a liquid phase reaction activated by organometallic catalysts. Promising yields are reported for different ligands and solvents, but a practical and sustainable implementation of these reactions is still challenging. On the other hand, the furoic acid carboxylation (furoic acid obtained by oxidation of furfural) is a solid‐gas reaction that produces 2,5furandicarboxylic acid in presence of alkaline carbonates. In this case, the economic feasibility is the main bottleneck to solve for scaling‐up, and efforts should be focused on substituting the most active alkaline carbonate (Cs) by more available alternatives. © 2022 The Authors. Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.