Reverse Combustion: Can CO2 Be Turned Back into Fuel?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Various efforts are underway to find a cheap, efficient and scalable way to recycle the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide back into the hydrocarbons that fuel civilization

By David Biello

In the 1990s a graduate student named Lin Chao at Princeton University decided to bubble carbon dioxide into an electrochemical cell. Using cathodes made from the element palladium and a catalyst known as pyridinium—a garden variety organic chemical that is a by-product of oil refining—he discovered that applying an electric current would assemble methanol from the CO2. He published his findings in 1994—and no one cared.

But by 2003, Chao's successor in the Princeton lab of chemist Andrew Bocarsly was deeply interested in finding a solution to the growing problem of the CO2 pollution causing global climate change. Graduate student Emily Barton picked up where he left off and, using an electrochemical cell that employs a semiconducting material used in photovoltaic solar cells for one of its electrodes, succeeded in tapping sunlight to transform CO2 into the basic fuel.

"The dominant thinking 10 years ago was that we should bury the CO2. But if you could efficiently convert it into something that we wouldn't have to spend all that money and energy to put into the ground, sort of recycle it, that would be better," Bocarsly says. "We take CO2, water, sunlight and an appropriate catalyst and generate an alcoholic fuel."

He adds: "We didn't have some brilliant insight here. We had some luck." Luck that venture capitalists are now trying to turn into cash flow via a start-up known as Liquid Light.

Turning CO2 into fuels is exactly what photosynthetic organisms have been doing for billions of years, although their fuels tend to be foods, like sugars. Now humans are trying to store the energy in sunlight by making a liquid fuel from CO2 and hydrogen—a prospect that could recycle CO2 emissions and slow down the rapid buildup of such greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. "You take electricity and combine CO2 with hydrogen to make gasoline," explained Arun Majumdar, director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA–e) that is pursuing such technology, at a conference in March. "This is like killing four birds with one stone"—namely, energy security, climate change, the federal deficit and, potentially, unemployment.

"When these new technologies get commercialized, those jobs always end up in the U.S.," argues chemical engineer Alan Weimer of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who is working on such solar-fuel generators. Adds chemist Michael Berman of the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, which is funding research into the possibilities of solar fuels, including Bocarsly's work: "The country, and the Air Force, need secure and sustainable sources of energy…. Since the sun provides enough energy for our needs, our goal is to make a fuel using CO2 and sunlight—and maybe water—as feedstocks to produce the chemical fuel that can store the sun's energy in a form that we can use where and when we need."

link

[Ban Hammer 13,360]

"We take CO2, water, sunlight and an appropriate catalyst and generate an alcoholic fuel."

sounds good to me!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Silly hippies. Plants can already do it.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

bating post containing personal information has been removed

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Plants can already do it.

Well, Billy, I'll refer your comment to a scientist's explanation...

Why Plants Can't Sequester Excess CO2

Plants love CO2, right?

More CO2 makes plants grow more, right?

It follows that a global rise in atmospheric CO2 will produce healthier plants globally, right?

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

Try this simple experiment. Place a paper towel on a work surface. Add water a drop at a time. At first the paper will absorb every drop of water. Eventually, though, there must come a time when the paper is so loaded with water that any excess is not absorbed. This illustrates a fundamental principle of all systems:

any excess input to a system above the system's handling or processing capacity will not be processed.

Put another way, for any system, whether in engineering, biology, socio-economics or any other dynamic system whatsoever:

when any input quantity exceeds the ability of the system to forward or to process that input then the system will fail to operate as designed, intended or evolved.

Input overload can lead to either a simple failure to process the excess or a failure of the entire system.

http://www.science20...ster_excess_co2

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Probably not.

But that is no reason not to TAX someone for it and experiment with the idea for many years.

Oddly enough, corproations that are in business to make a PROFIT simply let these good ideas pass them by and allow the government to make all the money on them. Fools!

Edited September 26, 2010 by Gary and Alla

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Well, Billy, I'll refer your comment to a scientist's explanation...

Why Plants Can't Sequester Excess CO2

Plants love CO2, right?

More CO2 makes plants grow more, right?

It follows that a global rise in atmospheric CO2 will produce healthier plants globally, right?

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

Try this simple experiment. Place a paper towel on a work surface. Add water a drop at a time. At first the paper will absorb every drop of water. Eventually, though, there must come a time when the paper is so loaded with water that any excess is not absorbed. This illustrates a fundamental principle of all systems:

any excess input to a system above the system's handling or processing capacity will not be processed.

Put another way, for any system, whether in engineering, biology, socio-economics or any other dynamic system whatsoever:

when any input quantity exceeds the ability of the system to forward or to process that input then the system will fail to operate as designed, intended or evolved.

Input overload can lead to either a simple failure to process the excess or a failure of the entire system.

http://www.science20...ster_excess_co2

An amateur "scientist" blog? That is your proof? Paper towels cannot grow. Paper towels cannot multiply. Paper towels don't contain processes that convert water and carbon dioxide into the complex carbohydrate structures to make more paper towels. Argument fail.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

An amateur "scientist" blog? That is your proof? Paper towels cannot grow. Paper towels cannot multiply. Paper towels don't contain processes that convert water and carbon dioxide into the complex carbohydrate structures to make more paper towels. Argument fail.

But.. Um... wait...

Paper towels can't grow? Where do they come from then? I'm scared.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

An amateur "scientist" blog? That is your proof? Paper towels cannot grow. Paper towels cannot multiply. Paper towels don't contain processes that convert water and carbon dioxide into the complex carbohydrate structures to make more paper towels.

I take it you haven't tried Bounty?

[Pooky 3,795]

I take it you haven't tried Bounty?

Nah, you're thinking of Charmin - the amazing toilet blocker-upper

[JohnSmith2007 353]

An amateur "scientist" blog? That is your proof? Paper towels cannot grow. Paper towels cannot multiply. Paper towels don't contain processes that convert water and carbon dioxide into the complex carbohydrate structures to make more paper towels. Argument fail.

Don't put down Stevens religion. You know that isn't nice.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Nah, you're thinking of Charmin - the amazing toilet blocker-upper

see...I knew it! Stop scaring me!

[justashooter 430]

not good enuf for the trees to do it. worthy of mention, hemp does it faster.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

not good enuf for the trees to do it. worthy of mention, hemp does it faster.

we need a science forum.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

not good enuf for the trees to do it. worthy of mention, hemp does it faster.

You must be right, because evidently, there is not enough carbon dioxide already for proper "hemp" growth:

C.A.P. CO2 Generators - Electronic Ignition

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is one of the easiest ways to accelerate plant growth. Plants grown with supplemental CO2 can produce up to 35% more flowers or fruit. A propane or natural gas CO2 generator is the most cost effective way to add CO2 to your environment. Many greenhouses use CO2 generators to boost CO2 levels safely and economically. C.A.P. has developed some of the safest and most reliable CO2 Generators. They are capable of producing between 3 and 26 cubic feet of CO2 per hour. C.A.P. manufactures 2 models, The GEN-1 and the GEN-2. The GEN-1 is recommended for small to medium size areas up to 15’ x 15’. The GEN-2 is recommended for larger areas up to 50’ x 50’. Both the GEN-1 and the GEN-2 units feature a two-stage safety pilot valve, which will not allow fuel to flow to the burner unless the pilot is lit. They both come with a standard tipswitch that will shut down the fuel to the main burner in the event the unit falls or tips over. The Electronic Ignition Module creates a spark to light the burners.

Edited September 26, 2010 by ##########