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Turning CO2 back into hydrocarbons

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posted on Mar, 3 2008 @ 07:09 PM
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Turning CO2 back into hydrocarbons


environment.newscientist.com

The hard part is the first step: finding a cost-effective energy-efficient way of creating CO from CO2. The simplest route is to heat CO2 molecules to around 2400 °C, at which point they spontaneously split into CO and oxygen. The problem is finding the energy to do this.

One obvious candidate is sunlight. Los Alamos Renewable Energy (LARE), a company based in Pojoaque, New Mexico, has built a small-scale prototype reactor that demonstrates how it can be harnessed. In the LARE reactor, CO2 ..
(visit the link for the full news article)


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posted on Mar, 3 2008 @ 07:09 PM
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This article outlined 3 different processes for taking CO2 back to either carbon and oxygen or oxygen and CO. The LARE reactor uses sunlight and high temperatures to produce O2 and CO.

A rival system called CR5 does a similar reaction by a different process.

A thid system uses a reverse fuel cell to turn CO2 into basic hydrocarbons.

What to do with CO? Mix it with hydrogen over a catalyst and out comes long chain hydrocarbons. This was done by Germany in WWII and later by South Africa to produce fuels when oil was not available!

environment.newscientist.com
(visit the link for the full news article)



posted on Mar, 3 2008 @ 07:33 PM
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Originally posted by plumranch
environment.newscientist.com
(visit the link for the full news article)


Aye, some good possibilities being suggested. Obviously the issue is finding the energy to drive such a process, and using fossil fuels isn't going to help.

Nuclear looked the way to go. Will in itself be costly, of course.

so, this reactor stuff sounds interesting.

[edit on 3-3-2008 by melatonin]



posted on Mar, 3 2008 @ 08:18 PM
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reply to post by plumranch
 


Here is a much more detailed article on Wired concerning the same tech:
Scientists Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2

And here is another article using a completely different technology to do the same thing:
Famed geneticist creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel

Edit: Oh wait.. it's a different tech. Hrmmphh... I can't access the full article in the OP without a subscription


[edit on 3/3/2008 by Beachcoma]



posted on Mar, 3 2008 @ 11:05 PM
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reply to post by Beachcoma (and Melatonin)
 


I think your Wired article referes to the same base studies. In both the LARE and the CR5 method sunlight is used as the heat source. They must use lensing to concentrate the sunlight. The idea is to do this out in the desert SW where land is cheap and sun plentiful. The CR5 process uses chromium ferrite ceramic which releases O2 when heated and then absorbs an O from the CO2 as it cools. The LARE process wasn't explained as well probably because it is proprietary.

The article in New Scientist is 1500 words long and I had to sign in to read the whole thing. But Wired had most of it so thanks for that!

I don't suppose any of the 3 processes are of much practical value but they show it can be done. The 3rd process (reverse fuel cell) was only 1% efficient but they thought that was pretty high since plants are under 1% efficient in converting photos to hydrocarbons! Guess I thought plants were more efficient than that!



posted on Mar, 3 2008 @ 11:18 PM
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reply to post by Beachcoma
 



Simple organisms can be genetically re-engineered to produce vaccines or octane-based fuels as waste, according to Venter.


I took the above quote from the 2nd source you quoted in your post refering to genetically altered algae (one of your favorite biological critters as I recall).

Anyway, I thought it was ironic that we think genetic alteration of biological organisms may save humanity while last night in the news we watched several large buildings in NW Washington burn to the ground because some radical group torched them thinking they had produced the wood with GM trees! I don't understand the anti GM mindset yet.



posted on Mar, 4 2008 @ 04:38 AM
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Originally posted by plumranch
Anyway, I thought it was ironic that we think genetic alteration of biological organisms may save humanity while last night in the news we watched several large buildings in NW Washington burn to the ground because some radical group torched them thinking they had produced the wood with GM trees! I don't understand the anti GM mindset yet.


There's extremists and psychotic people everywhere. But to be frank I'm somewhat suspicious of GM foods. If it's GM organisms which will eventually be burned in engines (or at the very least NOT consumed as food), it kind of doesn't really matter, does it? Still, torching buildings because they were made from GM wood (even it wasn't) is pretty stupid.

Speaking of genetic alterations and energy, I found this other idea pretty nifty: A Battery Made by Bioengineered Viruses

All viruses have an organic outer shell, but it turns out that with a little genetic tinkering they can be trained to produce an inorganic outer shell made of gold or cobalt oxide. Angela Belcher's lab at MIT has created an entire factory of trained viruses whose genes have been reprogrammed to grow battery ingredients. They're also growing ingredients for solar cells, as well as computer monitors and water-purification systems.


Forget nanotechnology, this seems to be easier!



posted on Jan, 26 2009 @ 10:11 PM
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Why is the cost of removing CO2 from the atmosphere even an issue? The cost of doing nothing is the end of civilization. What is the value of a dollar if you can't breath?



posted on Jan, 26 2009 @ 10:23 PM
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Your right... It is easy to do.

It is called Algae Oil and it is ready to go. See this link for everything you need to know... Also, If you really are a believer in carbon reduction, The solution is also here

Algae Oil: Note, this is a single post not a string, not hard to read and worth the 2 minutes of reading.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Reducing Carbon:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.newscientist.com...


Your work on atmospheric chlorofluorocarbons led eventually to a global CFC ban that saved us from ozone-layer depletion. Do we have time to do a similar thing with carbon emissions to save ourselves from climate change?

Not a hope in hell. Most of the "green" stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It's not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it'll make a lot of money for a lot of people. - (skip a few questions)

There is one way we could save ourselves and that is through the massive burial of charcoal. It would mean farmers turning all their agricultural waste - which contains carbon that the plants have spent the summer sequestering - into non-biodegradable charcoal, and burying it in the soil. Then you can start shifting really hefty quantities of carbon out of the system and pull the CO2 down quite fast.

Would it make enough of a difference?

Yes. The biosphere pumps out 550 gigatonnes of carbon yearly; we put in only 30 gigatonnes. Ninety-nine per cent of the carbon that is fixed by plants is released back into the atmosphere within a year or so by consumers like bacteria, nematodes and worms. What we can do is cheat those consumers by getting farmers to burn their crop waste at very low oxygen levels to turn it into charcoal, which the farmer then ploughs into the field. A little CO2 is released but the bulk of it gets converted to carbon. You get a few per cent of biofuel as a by-product of the combustion process, which the farmer can sell. This scheme would need no subsidy: the farmer would make a profit. This is the one thing we can do that will make a difference, but I bet they won't do it.



posted on Jan, 26 2009 @ 10:56 PM
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reply to post by infolurker
 




It is called Algae Oil and it is ready to go. See this link for everything you need to know...


Could you reference something claiming it is economically feasible or where it has been done profitably?

Please no Youtubes.

Tks!



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