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convert CO2 into ethanol at room temperature?

discusdaddiscusdad Member Posts: 11,427 ✭✭✭✭
edited November 2016 in General Discussion
this is interesting. researchers at OAK RIDGE laboratory might have found a cheap-little energy input- way to convert simple CO2 into fuel grade ethanol... end of BIG CORN? a video for this... https://youtu.be/t7EYQLOlwDM

the story here

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/e64ce872-c58f-3c3d-98ad-80d793dfdf0d/ss_scientists-accidentally.html
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Comments

  • 1911a1-fan1911a1-fan Member Posts: 51,193 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    the big question is, is it safe for human consumption [:D]
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  • discusdaddiscusdad Member Posts: 11,427 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    hmmmm good question, since it was done in the heart of shine country it probably is.
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  • Don McManusDon McManus Member Posts: 23,681 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    We already determined that this was too good to be true.

    https://forums.GunBroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=683299&SearchTerms=ethanol

    I mean really, what chance to a group of egg-heads in Tennessee have of putting one over on the members of this board?
    Freedom and a submissive populace cannot co-exist.

    Brad Steele
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  • LesWVaLesWVa Member Posts: 10,490 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Nothing new except maybe the room temp part.

    They developed C02 to synthetic fuel technology in Britain back in the 90's.
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  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,892 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ummm, will all those who believe that "ethanol is a fuel" please raise your hand?

    Neal
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  • Don McManusDon McManus Member Posts: 23,681 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by nmyers
    Ummm, will all those who believe that "ethanol is a fuel" please raise your hand?

    Neal


    Who can argue that it is not?

    What, then, is the fuel in an 85% Ethanol (E85) blend?

    One can argue that it is not an efficient or even a good fuel, but it is definitely a fuel.
    Freedom and a submissive populace cannot co-exist.

    Brad Steele
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  • Wild TurkeyWild Turkey Member Posts: 2,425 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:The tech involves a new combination of copper and carbon arranged into nanospikes on a silicon surface. The nanotechnology allows the reactions to be very precise, with very few contaminants.

    What the article does not say is how much energy it takes.

    If, as natural laws would indicate, it is a net loss (more energy to create than the fuel produces when burned ) then it's an interesting side note.

    However, if we develop enough sun/wind/tide/etc electrical energy that the process could be used to affordably produce a fuel that could be used to cut the amount of petroleum used and therefore cut the amount of CO2 being added to the atmosphere.

    At this point, only time will tell, and expecting results before the next election cycle is not realistic.[;)]
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  • gunnut505gunnut505 Member Posts: 10,290 ✭
    edited November -1
    There's 2 teensy problems with Wind, Solar, Tides, etc. that nobody ever addresses when bad-mouthing Oil'n'Gas; lossy transmission lines & batteries.
    The electrical grid is strung with wires that lose around 2% per mile of the original load. And those are the fancy new ones!

    Batteries are used to store the "free" energy from the Sun & wind, because unless the demand matches the supply at the moment it is generated; it is excess, and shunted away. The Sun doesn't provide many Langley's during the nighttime hours, and the wind doesn't always blow on your turbines, so batteries need to be made to store it.

    Petrochemicals aren't going away, in fact, unless we come up with something that replaces them; they will become even more intertwined with our continued existence.

    Burning alcohol should be a sin.
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  • Smitty500magSmitty500mag Member Posts: 13,623 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hydrogen will be the fuel of the future.
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