A Korean research team has successfully developed a technology that converts carbon dioxide (CO₂) into liquid hydrocarbons such as gasoline and naphtha, achieving pilot-scale production of 50 kg per day.
Dr. Jeong-Rang Kim’s research team at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), in collaboration with GS Engineering & Construction and Hanwha TotalEnergies, developed catalyst and process technology that directly converts CO₂ and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons without intermediate steps. This work was conducted under the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Carbon Resource Platform Chemical Project.
Previously, Dr. Kim’s team completed a 5 kg per day mini-pilot plant and transferred the technology to GS Engineering & Construction and Hanwha TotalEnergies in 2022. Building on this achievement, the joint research team established Korea’s first direct CO₂ hydrogenation pilot plant capable of producing 50 kg of liquid hydrocarbons per day by late 2025. The next phase involves designing a commercial-scale process capable of producing more than 100,000 tons annually.
As geopolitical disruptions such as the recent closure of the Strait of Hormuz threaten petroleum and naphtha supply chains, technologies that transform industrial CO₂ emissions from power plants and factories into valuable resources are gaining strategic importance. This technology offers the potential to replace petroleum feedstocks used for automotive fuels and petrochemical raw materials with carbon-derived alternatives.
Conventional CO₂ conversion technologies typically involve an indirect two-step process. First, CO₂ is converted into carbon monoxide (CO) via the reverse water-gas shift (RWGS) reaction, which requires temperatures exceeding 800°C due to the chemical stability of CO₂. Subsequently, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis converts CO and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons under lower temperatures but high pressures, requiring complex multi-stage facilities.
The KRICT-led team overcame these limitations by developing a catalyst system that enables direct conversion in a single process. This direct hydrogenation technology allows CO₂ and hydrogen to react directly into liquid hydrocarbons without the high-temperature RWGS step.
The technology operates under relatively mild conditions of approximately 270–330°C and 10–30 bar. By incorporating multi-stage reactions and recycling unreacted materials, the system currently achieves about 50% synthesis yield for liquid hydrocarbons. The pilot plant’s daily output of 50 kg is roughly equivalent to three 20-liter jerrycans of fuel.
This achievement is particularly significant as a commercialization-enabling platform technology. Improvements in catalyst manufacturing and operating conditions enhanced process stability while reducing energy consumption compared to conventional approaches. The simplified process structure is also advantageous for lowering production costs.
Moving forward, the research team plans to accumulate long-term operational data through pilot plant optimization and demonstration. Based on these results, they will pursue commercial-scale process design, economic feasibility analysis, and greenhouse gas reduction assessments for plants capable of producing over 100,000 tons annually. Successful commercialization could substantially reduce dependence on imported petroleum and strengthen national energy security by establishing alternative carbon feedstock systems.
The researchers anticipate that, when integrated with renewable energy, this technology could become a core enabling component of Power-to-Liquids (PtL) systems, which convert renewable electricity, captured CO₂, and green hydrogen into sustainable liquid fuels.
The study was published as a cover article in the March 2026 issue of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (Impact Factor: 7.3), an international journal specializing in sustainable chemical technologies. Dr. Hyung-Ki Min of KRICT served as the corresponding author, and Dr. Chen Jingyu participated as the first author.
