Higher olefin hydroformylation with syngas to produce linear aldehydes uses cobalt-based catalyst complexes, which requires rather high temperatures (>180°C) and pressures (~20 MPa). Further, it entails substantial solvent usage to recover and recycle the cobalt complex. Rh-based catalysts are known to operate at milder conditions (<100°C and a few MPa) and are much more active and selective toward the linear aldehyde. However, Rh is three orders of magnitude more expensive than cobalt and requires near-quantitative recovery for economic viability. A new 1-octene hydroformylation process that uses carbon-dioxide expanded liquid (CXL) as solvent medium and a nanofiltration membrane to substantially retain the Rh-catalyst complex in the reactor was demonstrated by researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis to outperform the cobalt-based process, with capital investment being 30% lower than the Co-based process. Gate-to-gate life cycle assessments show that the CXL process is environmentally friendlier than the conventional process in most impact categories such as ecotoxicity, greenhouse gas emissions and smog formation.