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Carbon dioxide can be converted directly into ethanol using copper nanoparticles on a nitrogen-doped graphene film:
In a new twist to waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol. Their finding, which involves nanofabrication and catalysis science, was serendipitous. [...] The team used a catalyst made of carbon, copper and nitrogen and applied voltage to trigger a complicated chemical reaction that essentially reverses the combustion process. With the help of the nanotechnology-based catalyst which contains multiple reaction sites, the solution of carbon dioxide dissolved in water turned into ethanol with a yield of 63 percent. Typically, this type of electrochemical reaction results in a mix of several different products in small amounts.
High-Selectivity Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Ethanol using a Copper Nanoparticle/N-Doped Graphene Electrode (open, DOI: 10.1002/slct.201601169) (DX)
(Score: 4, Informative) by butthurt on Sunday October 16 2016, @02:13AM
They calculated a 63% Faradaic efficiency at 1.2 V. At other voltages, different products (carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methanol) were produced, at lower Faradaic efficiency. Faradaic efficiency is the fraction of the supplied electrons that participate in the desired reaction. It's not the same as energy efficiency but it is a factor in the energy efficiency. Unless something odd is going on, the energy efficiency is less than 63%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_efficiency#Faradaic_Loss_vs._voltage_and_energy_efficiency [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2016, @11:06AM
Carbon monoxide is potentially very interesting product too, because it is main reduction agent in producing pure metals from their oxide ores. At the moment, it is produced in situ by burning coal coke in smelting furnaces.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday October 17 2016, @11:54AM
What's special about this catalyst, say the authors, is that it aids the formation of carbon-carbon bonds. When carbon monoxide is desired, there might be other catalysts that are more suitable.