Figure 1.

Qualitative carbon energetics of CO₂ capture and conversion to CO via the sequential integration pathway (i.e., integrated air contactor, CO₂ regeneration, and CO₂ conversion: 1, red) and via the direct integration pathway (i.e., integrated air contactor with bicarbonate and carbonate conversions: 2 and 3, green and blue). Note that we do not show the detailed mechanism of these molecular transformations but indicate the presence of transition states in each. We do not include the in situ CO₂ regeneration in the direct integration pathway to highlight the promise of combining the regeneration and conversion steps into a single step. Also note the qualitative energy requirement scale at the right-hand side of the figure, which qualitatively emphasizes the thermodynamic favorability of directly converting captured CO₂ (i.e., (bi)carbonates) into desired products.