Penn State Live - Sunlight turns carbon dioxide to methane
We have reported on Carbon Dioxide recycling efforts, both commercial and academic, underway around the US, in support of our contention that CO2, whether arising from our use of coal to generate power or to synthesize much-needed liquid fuels, should be seen, and treated, as a valuable by-product of coal use, as a raw material resource.
Herein, from Penn State University, we present more credible evidence in support of that thesis.
Some excerpts:
"University Park, Pa. - Dual catalysts may be the key to efficiently turning carbon dioxide and water vapor into methane and other hydrocarbons using titania nanotubes and solar power, according to Penn State researchers."
"Craig A. Grimes, professor of electrical engineering and his team used titanium dioxide nanotubes doped with nitrogen and coated with a thin layer of both copper and platinum to convert a mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapor to methane. Using outdoor, visible light, they reported a 20-times higher yield of methane than previously published attempts conducted in laboratory conditions using intense ultraviolet exposures."
"The researchers are now working on converting their batch reactor into a continuous flow-through design that they believe will significantly increase yields."
"The researchers have filed a provisional patent on this work."
Methane can be converted to Methanol via several established processes, including the use of "industrialized" bacteria, and new, more efficient processes are being developed at numerous research sites, including the University of Massachusetts and Stanford.
And, as you by now know, commercial processes exist to convert methanol to gasoline, as in Exxon-Mobil's "MTG" process.
It's long been known, and well-documented, that chemically-active Carbon Monoxide, which can be obtained through the chemical reduction of nearly-inert Carbon Dioxide, can be used to synthesize gaseous and liquid fuels, and valuable chemicals. One obstacle to the commercial implementation of that process is that it takes a lot of energy to reduce CO2 into CO. Penn State researchers have apparently found a way to accomplish the needed reduction, or even to bypass it entirely, by using the freely-available power of the sun.
Carbon Dioxide is a valuable raw material resource. It should be treated as a prized by-product generated from our varied processes of coal utilization.