http://www.prog-univers.com/IMG/pdf/sdarticle.pdf
This interesting bit of Carbon Dioxide recycling technology comes to us from the USDOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, managed for the DOE by the University of California at Berkeley.
It relates conceptually to other CO2-recycling processes we have documented for you, as in one of our more recent reports, accessible via:
Penn State Recycles via Artificial Photosynthesis | Research & Development | News; "High-Rate Solar Photocatalytic Conversion of CO2 and Water Vapor to Hydrocarbon Fuels; PSU, 2008";
and, as will be seen in a report to follow, another similar originating in West Virginia.
This California example is technically dense, starting with the title; but, we will attempt to sort out an interesting bit or two following excerpts from:
"Bimetallic Redox Sites for Photochemical CO2 Splitting in Mesoporous Silicate Sieve
by: Wenyong Lin, Heinz Frei; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; University of California; 2005
Abstract: Binuclear redox sites consisting of a (Titanium or Zirconium) oxo-bridged to a (Copper) or (TinI) center have been covalently anchored on the pore surface of MCM-41 silicate sieve by a stepwise grafting procedure. The bimetallic sites feature a metal-to-metal charge transfer (MMCT) absorption extending deep into the visible region.
Irradiation of the MMCT chromophore of ZrCu(I)–MCM-41 loaded with 1 atm of CO2 gas at (room temperature) resulted in growth of CO and H2O ... .
Photolysis experiments using (radioactively traceable) CO2 ... demonstrate that carbon monoxide and the oxygen atom of the water product originate from CO2, indicating splitting of the CO2 ... .
The artificial photosynthesis of a fuel like methanol from CO2 and H2O is a key challenge of the generation of renewable energy.
(The) reaction has ... been reported for ... materials such as TiO2 ... upon irradiation with UV light.
Methanol and methane were detected after prolonged irradiation ... .
(It has been) recently found that ... excitation of isolated Titanium centers (on specified) silicates by UV light affords the reduction of CO2 by H2O at substantially better efficiency.
This work was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical, Geological, and Biosciences of the USDOE under contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098."
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The full report is almost blindingly technical; and, we can't recommend it's full reading and study to any but the most highly-evolved among our readership.
However, what is clearly indicated is that there exists a growing knowledge and understanding of the fact, that, and of the ways in which, Carbon Dioxide can be directly recycled - by the use of UV radiation or sun light, and with the inclusion of Water in the reaction sequences - into the atomic raw materials from which we can, through known processes, synthesize useful and valuable materials, including, as specified, "methanol and methane".
Supposing that we do photosynthesize Methanol, as herein indicated, from Carbon Dioxide, we can then, via, for one example, ExxonMobil's "MTG"(r) technology, convert that CO2-based Methanol into Gasoline.
And, should we photosynthesize Methane, again as herein indicated, from Carbon Dioxide, we can then, as in, for one example, the "tri-reforming" technology described by, among others, Penn State University scientists Chunsan Song and Craig Grimes, react that CO2-based Methane with even more Carbon Dioxide, and thereby synthesize even more hydrocarbon compounds of value.
Once again, it is demonstrated, by scientists in our employ, that: Carbon Dioxide, as arises in a very small way, relative to natural and uncontrollable sources of emission, such as volcanoes, from, among many other human activities, our varied and productive uses of Coal, is a valuable raw material resource. Using only light energy, we can convert that CO2 into the raw materials from which we can manufacture gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons, useful both as fuels and as the raw materials for synthesizing a number of valuable products.