Catalyst could help turn CO2 into fuel

www.newscientisttech.com...

"Breaking open the very stable bonds in CO2 is one of the biggest challenges in synthetic chemistry," says Frederic Goettmann, a chemist at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany. "But plants have been doing it for millions of years." The researchers are now trying to bring their method even closer to photosynthesis. "The benzene reaction currently supplies the energy that splits the CO2," Goettmann says, "but in plants it is light." The new catalyst absorbs ultraviolet radiation, so the team is experimenting to see if light can provide the energy instead.

An interesting development has been made in the attemp to use the CO2 which is depositied in the atmosphere, as a source of energy.

Research scientists in Germany have been trying to emulate the process of photosynthesis that plants use to extract carbon from the air around us.

Do you think that advances in technology like this would eat away at the Greenhouse gases, or have we breached the point of no return with Mother Earth?

it creates carbon monoxide which is toxic and they want to use that as liquid fuel too which is still bad...

I don't like the idea of using another chemical process to stop using fossil fuels. Becuase it is not natural and well it most likely will change the compostion of the atmosphere still and maybe a bad effect will come out of it. Personally I think if we want to heal the Earth then we need to step back and reduce carbon emissions by methods that are truly clean and do not produce something else that can still have a bad effect e.g. carbon monoxide. I think hydrogen fuel is the way forward right now.

[edit on 15/3/2007 by Snake64_009]

Hmm... though, using such fuel would still be harmful here on the surface... has anyone considered the idea that an orbiting craft could pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and then use that as fuel ouside of our atmosphere?

You'd be pulling carbon elements out of the upper atmosphere at the same time as gaining fuel for shuttles and stations in orbit. Could be pretty beneficial.