CO2 Captured From Air Converted Directly To Methanol Fuel

[stromboli]

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-carbon-dioxide-captured-air-methanol.html

(Phys.org)â€"For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that CO2 captured from the air can be directly converted into methanol (CH3OH) using a homogenous catalyst. The benefits are two-fold: The process removes harmful CO2 from the atmosphere, and the methanol can be used as an alternative fuel to gasoline. The work represents an important step that could one day lead to a future "methanol economy," in which fuel and energy storage are primarily based on methanol.

The study was led by G. K. Surya Prakash, a chemistry professor at the University of Southern California, along with the Nobel laureate George A. Olah, a distinguished professor at the University of Southern California. The researchers have published their paper on the CO2-to-methanol conversion process in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
"Direct CO2 capture and conversion to methanol using molecular hydrogen in the same pot was never achieved before. We have now done it!" Prakash told Phys.org.
Over the past several years, chemists have been investigating various ways of recycling CO2 into useful products. For example, treating CO2 with hydrogen gas (H2) can produce methanol, methane (CH4), or formic acid (HCOOH). Among these products, methanol is especially attractive because of its use as an alternative fuel, in fuel cells, and for hydrogen storage.
The chemical industry currently produces more than 70 million tons of methanol annually because the simple compound also serves as a building block for many larger compounds, including two of the most highly produced organic compounds, ethylene and propylene, which are used to make plastics and other products.
A key factor in the CO2-to-methanol conversion process is finding a good homogeneous catalyst, which is essential for speeding up the chemical reactions so that methanol can be produced at a fast rate. The problem is that these reactions require high temperatures (around 150 °C), and unfortunately the heat often causes the catalysts to decompose.
In the new study, the researchers developed a stable catalyst based on the metal ruthenium that does not decompose at high temperatures. The catalyst's good stability allows it to be reused over and over again for the continuous production of methanol.
"Developing stable homogeneous catalysts for CO2 reduction to methanol was a challenge," Prakash said. "Majority of the catalysts stopped at the formic acid stage. Furthermore, we needed a catalyst that could reduce carbamates or alkylammonium bicarbonates directly to methanol. We have achieved both with our catalyst."
With the new catalyst, along with a few additional compounds, the researchers demonstrated that up to 79% of the CO2 captured from the air can be converted into methanol. Initially the methanol is mixed with water, but it can be easily separated out by distillation.
Looking at the work from a broader perspective, the researchers hope that it may one day contribute to a methanol economy. This plan involves developing an "anthropogenic carbon cycle" in which carbon is recycled to supplement the natural carbon cycle. In nature, carbon is continuously being exchanged, recycled, and reused among the atmosphere, oceans, and living organisms, but nature cannot recycle the carbon from fossil fuels as quickly as humans can burn them. Humans could counteract some of the CO2 we release by converting some of the carbon back into an energy source such as methanol.
More information on the anthropogenic carbon cycle can be found in this Perspective piece by Olah, Prakash, and Alain Goeppert.
As a next step, the researchers plan to lower the catalyst operating temperature and improve its efficiency.
"We will continue the studies to develop more robust catalysts that work around 100 to 120 °C," Prakash said. "We would like to perform the chemistry in a preparatively useful way, wherein there are no solvent or reagent losses."

[kilodelta]

" removes harmful CO2 from the atmosphere, and the methanol can be used as an alternative fuel to gasoline."

Call me crazy, but won't burning it just put the CO2 back? A net change zero?

[stromboli]

" removes harmful CO2 from the atmosphere, and the methanol can be used as an alternative fuel to gasoline."

Call me crazy, but won't burning it just put the CO2 back? A net change zero?

Not methane.
http://www.eia.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/natural_gas_1998_issues_trends/pdf/chapter2.pdf

¸ Natural gas, when burned, emits lower quantities of greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants per unit of energy
produced than do other fossil fuels. This occurs in part because natural gas is more easily fully combusted,
and in part because natural gas contains fewer impurities than any other fossil fuel. For example, U.S. coal
contains 1.6 percent sulfur (a consumption-weighted national average) by weight. The oil burned at electric
utility power plants ranges from 0.5 to 1.4 percent sulfur. Diesel fuel has less than 0.05 percent, while the
current national average for motor gasoline is 0.034 percent sulfur. Comparatively, natural gas at the burner
tip has less than 0.0005 percent sulfur compounds.

Methane is natural gas, the same thing you use in your home for fuel. Methane as a greenhouse gas is very bad, but as a fuel it is far less polluting than any other so-called fossil fuel. It is also a fossil fuel because it is created naturally by decaying biomass, same as other fuels. And it is literally infinitely renewable.

It is NOT a perfect solution. But to be able to convert mass quantities of CO2 to methane from the atmosphere would serve to slow global warming dramatically.

[Hakurei Reimu]

I'm wondering where the hydrogen comes from. Because industrial hydrogen comes from... petroleum.

[stromboli]

I'm wondering where the hydrogen comes from. Because industrial hydrogen comes from... petroleum.

Fossil fuels are the dominant source of industrial hydrogen. Hydrogen can be generated from natural gas with approximately 80% efficiency, [citation needed] or from other hydrocarbons to a varying degree of efficiency. Specifically, bulk hydrogen is usually produced by the steam reforming of methane or natural gas.

Currently, the majority of hydrogen (∼95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming or partial oxidation of methane and coal gasification with only a small quantity by other routes such as biomass gasification or electrolysis of water.[4]

I Mentioned previously electrolysis as a means to create Hydrogen (the process also creates Oxygen by splitting the molecule) but it is a more expensive process at least at this point.

[Baruch]

It is not possible to escape the conversation of energy, and only living flesh temporarily escapes entropy.

But it is useful, to have better gaseous or liquid fuels.  As long as you remember there is no free lunch.  On can get the electricity for electrolysis of water ... from any other source, including renewables.

[Termin]

 Certain types of renewable sources of energy, such as Hyrdo electric would be ideal for this sort of thing.
   
    In no peak hours energy that could be generated from these dams aren't due to lack of demand an no pratical way to store the power. This could be one means of doing so.

[PopeyesPappy]

" removes harmful CO2 from the atmosphere, and the methanol can be used as an alternative fuel to gasoline."

Call me crazy, but won't burning it just put the CO2 back? A net change zero?

A net change of zero would be a lot better than what we do today by digging up carbon that has been sequestered underground for millions of years and releasing it into the atmosphere as CO2.

[stromboli]

Which is the whole point. CO2 is being introduced into the atmosphere in greater quantities in the last 100,000 years or so, as I recall. Anything that can convert it to a usable form producing much less pollutants is a win. Do it cheaply or using less energy to make energy, is a win win.

[Sal1981]

Can it also make ethanol from carbondioxide?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'm wondering where the hydrogen comes from. Because industrial hydrogen comes from... petroleum.

Hydrogen is the most common element in the Universe. It gets into everything.

[PopeyesPappy]

According to a recently released paper one of the most important things for the long term survival of life on a planet is probably... life.

They are saying the biggest reason we probably haven't heard from ET yet is because life on most planets probably dies off soon after it arises because it doesn't evolve fast enough to help stabilize the climate as happened here on Earth. They are calling it the Gaian Bottleneck.

Here on Earth we were lucky because photosynthesis developed early enough in our evolutionary history to keep our planet from entering a period of run away greenhouse effect like Venus. Nowadays we are trying as hard as we can to put all that CO2 back into the atmosphere with little regard for the long term consequences.

[josephpalazzo]

http://phys.org/news/2016-01-carbon-dioxide-captured-air-methanol.html

Already posted that, months ago...

http://atheistforums.com/index.php?topic=9017.msg1106331#msg1106331

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Okay, now let's make ethanol from plain air, please.

[kilodelta]

Okay, now let's make ethanol from plain air, please.

I shall name it Aircohol. 200 Proof.