More CO2 to Plastics - Cornell University

 
 
More on the work at Cornell University, wherein they are recycling Carbon Dioxide into very useful plastics.
 
Some excerpts from the enclosed link to Researcher Geoffrey Coates group::
 
"Polymers from Renewable Resources"
 
(Yes, they are referring - as we've suggested we all should - to Carbon Dioxide as a renewable resource. - JtM)
 
"Carbon dioxide is an ideal synthetic feedstock since it is abundant, inexpensive, nontoxic, and nonflammable. Although it is estimated that Nature uses CO2 to make over 200 billion tons of glucose by photosynthesis each year, synthetic chemists have had embarrassing little success in developing efficient catalytic processes that exploit this attractive raw material. There has been considerable recent interest in the development of catalysts for the alternating copolymerization of carbon dioxide with epoxides to produce aliphatic polycarbonates. Due to the low cost and accessibility of the monomers and the attractive properties of polycarbonates, the development of new, efficient initiators for this polymerization process is a significant scientific goal. We have recently discovered a new class of well-defined, highly active zinc-based catalysts that copolymerize carbon dioxide and epoxides under exceptionally mild conditions. These catalysts are remarkable since they are several orders of magnitude more active than the current commercial catalysts. Current research is directed toward determining the mechanism of this new catalyst system, and the development of chiral catalyst systems for stereoselective polymerization. More recently, we have discovered the first cobalt catalysts for CO2 epoxide polymerization. These catalysts exhibit unprecedented activities."

CTL vs. Real Oil Cost


 
We have attempted to describe how all the costs associated with our profligate importation of petroleum contribute to an actual, per-gallon, "hidden" cost of gasoline of gasoline that is, in fact, higher, far higher, than the posted price at the pump.
 
In this submission, and in others to follow, we will, as we have earlier, document that fact.
 
Nearly all of the hidden costs of gasoline evolve, as we have reported, from that fact that we have to import most of our petroleum, and import it from and through unstable, unfriendly countries and regions.
 
Some excerpts: 
 
"According to the National Defense Council Foundation, the economic penalties of America's oil dependence total $297.2 to $304.9 billion annually. If reflected at the gasoline pump, these “hidden costs” would raise the price of a gallon of gasoline to over $5.28. A fill-up would be over $105."
 
"Our dependency on oil from countries that are either politically unstable or at odds with the U.S. subjects the American economy to occasional supply disruptions, price hikes, and loss of wealth, which, according to a study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, have cost us more than $7 trillion present value dollars over the last 30 years. That is more than the cumulative cost of all of the wars fought by the U.S. since the Revolutionary War. The transfer of wealth to oil-producing countries - $1.16 trillion over the past thirty years - significantly increased our trade deficit. The Department of Energy estimates that each $1 billion of trade deficit costs America 27,000 jobs. Oil imports account for almost one-third of the total U.S. deficit and, hence, are a major contributor to unemployment."
 
And, an interesting note: You will find that this enclosed report, as do others we will send you, relies on well-aged data. Most of the analyses we have been able to access are ten to twenty years old.

Real Cost of Gas: $5 a Gallon - The New York Times

 
Like most of our submissions on the actual cost of petroleum-based liquid fuel, this one is somewhat aged, it was published on August 13, 1987.
 
However, it is yet another disclosure of the hidden costs of gasoline derived from imported petroleum, and what the true price we pay for that gas is.
 
One brief excerpt: 
 
"But the perspective of $5 gasoline makes almost any alternative look attractive."
 
Now, they're talking about the real cost in 1987.
 
The real cost now should make "any alternative look" downright beautiful.
 
Well, coal-to-liquid conversion isn't just "any alternative". It's a proven technology that generates demonstrably cheaper and cleaner liquid fuels, could create millions of domestic jobs and would enhance our national security.
 
Coal-to-Liquid technology is a real alternative, and even "Beautiful" doesn't seem adequate to describe it.

CO2 to Fuel with Solar Power

 
We believe we have previously alerted you to the work of Kubiak and Sathrum, at the University of California, San Diego.
 
In light of your most recent Editorial urging elected representatives to vote against "Cap and Trade", we wanted to make certain you, and perhaps they, knew that alternatives exist which could make the Cap and Trade argument irrelevant. There are better, far better, ways to resolve the CO2 issue:
 
Recycle it!
 
Some excerpts: 

""The technology to convert carbon monoxide (Carbon Monoxide, in this case, obtained by "cracking" Carbon Dioxide with solar energy- JtM)  into liquid fuel has been around a long time," said Kubiak. "It was invented in Germany (for converting coal into liquid fuels - JtM) in the 1920s. The U.S. was very interested in the technology during the 1970s energy crisis, but when the energy crisis ended people lost interest. Now things have come full circle because rising fuel prices make it economically competitive to convert CO into fuel.""

(Referencing the highlighted passages: Coal conversion technology can recycle Carbon Dioxide. - JtM)

"The device designed by Kubiak and Sathrum to split carbon dioxide utilizes a semiconductor and two thin layers of catalysts. It splits carbon dioxide to generate carbon monoxide and oxygen in a three-step process. The first step is the capture of solar energy photons by the semiconductor. The second step is the conversion of optical energy into electrical energy by the semiconductor. The third step is the deployment of electrical energy to the catalysts. The catalysts convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide on one side of the device and to oxygen on the other side."

As we noted in a previous dispatch, when explaining the electro-reduction of CO2, as practiced by Mantra, et. al., there are a number of effective, and efficient, ways to "crack" Carbon Dioxide into it's useful bits, just as there are a number of well-established, proven ways to "crack" coal - as there also long have been with petroleum.

Coal TL vs. Hidden Oil Costs

NDCF report: The hidden cost of imported oil 

 
Herein is more documentation attesting to the fact that we don't actually know how much our oil and gasoline really cost us.
 
An excerpt:
 
"NDCF report: the hidden cost of imported oil

The National Defense Council Foundation, an Alexandria, Virginia-based research and educational institution has completed its year-long analysis of the "hidden cost" of imported oil. The NDCF project represents the most comprehensive investigation of the military and economic penalty our undue dependence on imported oil exacts from the U.S. economy. Included in this economic toll are:

Almost $49.1 billion in annual defense outlays to maintain the capability to defend the flow of Persian Gulf Oil - the equivalent of adding $1.17 to the price of a gallon of gasoline;
The loss of 828,400 jobs in the U.S. economy;
The loss of $159.9 billion in GNP annually;
The loss of $13.4 billion in federal and state revenues annually;
Total economic penalties of from $297.2 to $304.9 billion annually.
If reflected at the gasoline pump, these "hidden costs" would raise the price of a gallon of gasoline to over $5.28, a fill-up would be over $105.

One striking figure was the cost of the periodic oil shocks the U.S. has experienced over the past three decades which NDCF estimates at from over $2.2 Trillion to almost $2.5 Trillion."