We've thoroughly documented that the Carbon Dioxide by-product of our coal use could, and should, be viewed as a useful, even valuable, resource from which we can manufacture more liquid fuels, and raw materials for our plastics and chemicals industries.
As the enclosed report, from collaborating researchers in both Spain and Japan, reveals, there are multiple technical ways in which the relatively inert CO2 can be processed, made more reactive, so that the carbon it contains can be utilized in the synthesis of valuable products, even medicine.
We have edited our excerpt in the extreme. Like much of what we send you, the complete information begs reading by competent individuals able to bring the information to the attention of those who most deserve to learn of it: The citizens of the United States, and most especially those citizens resident in US Coal Country.
The excerpt:
"Electrochemical approaches to alleviation of the problem of carbon dioxide accumulation
C. M. Sánchez-Sánchez, V. Montiel, D. A. Tryk, A. Aldaz, and A. Fujishima
Grupo Electroquímica Aplicada, Departamento de Química Física, Universidad de Alicante, Ap. 99, E-03080, Alicante, Spain
Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
Abstract: The electrochemical reduction of CO2, which includes a number of different specific approaches, may show promise as a means to help slow down the accumulation of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Two types of approaches are examined briefly here. First, CO2 can be used as a reagent in the electrocarboxylation reaction to produce organic carboxylic acids, for example, the pharmaceutical ibuprofen. Second, CO2 can be converted to a fuel, either directly or via synthesis gas. The latter can be produced with reasonably good energy efficiency in a gas-diffusion, electrode-based cell even at present with existing electrocatalysts. Oxygen gas is produced as a by-product. Further work is needed to improve the selectivity and efficiency in this and other approaches.
Chemists have been working on various ways to prevent the accumulation of atmospheric CO2, including removal, sequestration, utilization, and conversion into fuels [1]. In particular, electrochemical researchers have been making sizable efforts to develop ways to transform CO2 into useful substances such as fuels or chemicals. The past decade or two have seen the growth of the subject, with promising results of electrochemical approaches.
This report tries to portray some of the principal electrochemical approaches to the CO2 problem that have been proposed by various research groups. We begin by explaining two generic electrochemical methods of utilizing CO2. The first involves the coupling of CO2 to electrochemically reduced organic molecules (electrocarboxylation), with the goal being to find new routes to synthesize chemicals that are interesting from a pharmacological point of view. The second is the direct electrochemical reduction of CO2, with the goal being to obtain hydrocarbons, alcohols, or other fuels. This second method can in turn be divided into two groups, according to whether metals or transition-metal complexes are used as catalysts."
(These scientists, like many we cite for you in our reports, are compelled to use, in places, highly-technical language, and we don't, because of our own limitations and lack of understanding, excerpt much of it directly for you. But, two things in the foregoing are quite clear, are stated categorically by these scientists: "CO2 can be used ... to produce ... organic carboxylic acids (like) ibuprofen. Second, CO2 can be converted to a fuel." That message comes through quite clearly. We wonder when everyone will start receiving it. - JtM)
"The utilization of CO2 in the carboxylation of various types of organic compounds has been known for many years....
Electrochemical reductive carboxylations have been described for a large number of substrate types, including ketones, acetylenes, olefins, alkyl halides, and heterocyclic compounds. However, the most important scale-up processes are related to the synthesis of nonsteriodal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Direct electrochemical approaches to convert CO2 to various types of fuels have been investigated for several decades. ... Moreover, the reduction of carbon dioxide in the potentials at which the cathodic reaction occurs is normally accompanied by hydrogen evolution."
(So, "reduction of carbon dioxide" is "normally accompanied by hydrogen evolution". If we are blessed to receive both Carbon and Hydrogen, what can be made of them? Hydrocarbons? - JtM)
Investigations on the direct electrochemical reduction of CO2 can be categorized into two groups according to the type of catalytic system:
1. Heterogeneous catalytic systems using cathodes of bulk or particulate metals, which show particular selective product properties. Their general properties are long-term reliability and acceptable mechanical, thermal, and chemical stability.
2. Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic systems using transition-metal complexes as catalysts. Attractive features are high selectivity and low operating potentials, but at the price of limited stability.
These catalytic systems ... carry out the electrochemical reduction of CO2, ... (and) ... In aqueous solution, C1-type compounds (e.g., carbon monoxide, formic acid, methanol, methane) are produced."
(If we get carbon monoxide, we can use it in processes, like Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, to make liquid fuels. Formic acid, among other uses, can be employed in fuel cells. Methanol is a valuable liquid fuel in it's own right, but can serve as a raw material from which we can make gasoline and plastics. Methane can be used in it's traditional role as "natural gas", or, like methanol, be employed in the synthesis of other valuable organic chemicals. - JtM)
"In the case of aqueous media, metal electrodes used in the electroreduction of CO2 can be divided in different groups according to the nature of the main product.
A. Hydrocarbons and alcohols (Cu).
B. Carbon monoxide (Au, Ag, Zn, Pd, and Ga).
C. Formic acid (Pb, Hg, In, Sn, Bi, Cd, and Tl).
Shibata and coworkers have developed an important line of research involving the electrochemical synthesis of urea by simultaneous reduction of CO2 and nitrite or nitrate ... .
B. Carbon monoxide (Au, Ag, Zn, Pd, and Ga).
C. Formic acid (Pb, Hg, In, Sn, Bi, Cd, and Tl).
Shibata and coworkers have developed an important line of research involving the electrochemical synthesis of urea by simultaneous reduction of CO2 and nitrite or nitrate ... .
... various compositions of synthesis gas can be produced. ... useful to synthesize methanol ... .
It is, of course, necessary to compare such an electrochemical method for producing synthesis gas with purely chemical ones such as steam reforming of methane or partial oxidation of methane, which is used in industry as a method of producing synthesis gas, and carbon dioxide reforming of methane. Although the electrochemical route costs more energy, this is because it includes the energy cost of producing the hydrogen.
It appears possible that the electrochemical reduction of CO2 could be applied to new energy storage systems that could contribute to the alleviation of the accumulation of atmospheric CO2. As one example, CO2 reduction shows great potential in the production of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. ... A second example is the reduction of CO2 to produce fuels or synthesis gas."
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Multiple options exist, it seems, to make valuable, profitable, use of coal's major by-product. Further comment from us, at this point, seems pointless. We'll close by noting the Spanish and Japanese authors include a very substantial reference list, which confirms even further that the science of CO2 utilization, like the science for converting coal into liquid fuels, is, in certain circles, well-known and well-understood. What isn't known or understood, at all, by us, is why those sciences haven't been publicized and explained to the people who most deserve to have that knowledge; the people who could and would do the most with it: The citizens of the United States of America, and, most especially, those citizens resident in US Coal Country.