"Despite its reputation, there couldn't be a more environment friendly raw material for the chemical industry."
"A final reaction step, involving addition of an alkali, sodium hydroxide solution, then collects the intermediary activated carbon dioxide species as methanol. "Methanol was typically produced in over 90% yield (based on silane), as characterized by gas chromatography against an external standard," the researchers say. Methanol, they add, is an important starting material for many chemical syntheses and serves as an alternative fuel and as a raw material for the production of energy in methanol fuel cells (as we've previously documented,. coal-derived methanol's a pretty good liquid fuel in it's own right, along with being an excellent raw material for organic chemical, i.e., plastics, syntheses. - JtM)."
As we've said, as we've documented, carbon dioxide emissions, whether from coal-fired power plants or coal-to-liquid fuel conversion facilities, could be, should be, treated as a valuable raw material resource. We can capture it when and where it's emitted, and even from the atmosphere itself, and then use it profitably to manufacture some pretty useful stuff, such as more liquid fuel.