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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday September 12 2017, @04:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the were-they-in-Denver? dept.

It may sound too good to be true, but TU Delft PhD student Ming Ma has found a way to produce alcohol out of thin air. Or to be more precise, he has found how to effectively and precisely control the process of electroreduction of CO2 to produce a wide range of useful products, including alcohol. Being able to use CO2 as such a resource may be pivotal in tackling climate change. His PhD defence will take place on September 14th.

[...] For mitigating atmospheric CO2 concentration, carbon capture and utilization (CCU) could be a feasible alternative strategy to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to fuels and value-added chemicals has attracted considerable attention as a promising solution. In this process, the captured CO2 is used as a resource and converted into carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4), and even liquid products such as formic acid (HCOOH), methanol (CH3OH) and ethanol (C2H5OH).

The high energy density hydrocarbons can be directly and conveniently utilized as fuels within the current energy infrastructure. In addition, the production of CO is very interesting since it can be used as feedstock in the Fischer–Tropsch process, a well-developed technology that has been widely used in industry to convert syngas (CO and hydrogen (H2)) into valuable chemicals such as methanol and synthetic fuels (such as diesel fuel). The figure attached describes these three processes and the way electroreduction of CO2 could potentially close the carbon cycle.

Beer, from air. Others use barley as an intermediary.

Publication: Aula TU Delft, PhD defence Ming Ma, Selective Electrocatalytic CO2 Conversion on Metal Surfaces.


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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:18AM (2 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:18AM (#566663) Homepage
    If Y is polluted with X, would adding more pure Y *reduce* the X pollution?
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  • (Score: 1) by Arik on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:16AM (1 child)

    by Arik (4543) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:16AM (#566680) Journal
    "If Y is polluted with X, would adding more pure Y *reduce* the X pollution?"

    If you have a container of Y polluted with some portion of foreign matter X, to which you add more pure Y, you would now have a larger quantity of polluted Y, with a lower concentration of pollutant X. However, it would still be polluted, and you would have lost a portion of pure, unpolluted Y, in the process. So, depending on exactly what Y and X are and what you're trying to do, that could be a serious problem. Or not.

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    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:43AM

      by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:43AM (#566687) Homepage
      So pollution is a binary attribute in terms of presence or absence??!

      It is clear that it is you who disagrees with the rest of the world in your definitions.
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves