Comments on: Synthetic Fuel from CO2 and Solar Energy?

By: Jos Conil

Jos Conil — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 05:20:23 +0000

These bio fuels do not eat into agricultural land like bio diesels. Also they are produced using solar power. These are two big plus points of this technology.

But the article is silent about the emissions caused by burning these fuels and also the by products (if any) that are produced.

This also demonstrates that concentrated solar power can be effectively used for many manufacturing processes requiring high temperature – like ceramics, cement production etc. The embodied energy of these building materials can thus be drastically reduced.

By: Geoff Thomas

Geoff Thomas — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:42:20 +0000

The technology sounds good, basically recycling the catalytic/reactive components, but the clincher would be the ease and efficiency in this particular process, – after all, converting carbon dioxide to wood, using solar energy has been around for a long time, plants have been doing it before we humans had developed, and the modern technology of Gasification, which converts carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using a glowing charcoal bed or equivalent, – and also water to hydrogen, with a resultant gas 80% monoxide to 20% hydrogen, is excellent for running internal combustion engines and is now quite developed and available.

The comparison with Gasification would be interesting with this new development.

Geoff Thomas. Australia.

By: sheckyvegas

sheckyvegas — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:15:33 +0000

I’m not a chemist, but I don’t understand the reason for first forming calcium carbonate by causing a reaction between CO2 and calcium oxide, and then heating the calcium carbonate to release CO2 and calcium oxide. Is this extra step necessary to get the “pure” forms of CO2 and calcium oxide, or what?

By: Jim Jonas

Jim Jonas — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:32:02 +0000

Many questions and I wondered about the byproduct also? CO Science and Engineering answers to the public would not be a bad idea.

By: victor

victor — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:03:45 +0000

Although carbon monoxide is poisonous, it is highly sought after. Millions of pounds of it are used each year to manufacture chemicals including detergents and plastics. It can also be converted into liquid fuel.
“The technology to convert carbon monoxide into liquid fuel has been around a long time,” said Kubiak. “It was invented in Germany in the 1920s. The U.S. was very interested in the technology during the 1970s energy crisis, but when the energy crisis ended people lost interest. Now things have come full circle because rising fuel prices make it economically competitive to convert CO into fuel.”

Carbon monoxide is a building block for making hydrocarbons — that can then be used to make methanol or gasoline.
Fuels like methanol and gasoline are combinations of hydrogen and carbon that are relatively easy to synthesize, Stechel said. Methanol is the easiest, and that’s where they will start, but gasoline could also be made.

The Sandia team envisions a day when coal-fired power plants might have large numbers of CR5s, each reclaiming 45 pounds of carbon dioxide using reclamation technology currently under development and producing enough carbon monoxide to make 2.5 gallons of fuel.

By: Daniel Lovas

Daniel Lovas — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:46:43 +0000

I see, makes sense. By reverting the process later one can get back all or almost all of the solar energy – much more efficient than using a rechargeable battery, and similar to the “energy -> water -> hydrogen + oxygen -> water + energy” process. With the obvious advance of CO being much more stable while conserved for future use. But the CO is poisonous, while the hydrogen is not…

By: Rik

Rik — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:25:44 +0000

@Daniel: as I understand it the CO is the fuel, burning it will again produce CO2, completing the cycle.

By: Daniel Lovas

Daniel Lovas — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:09:52 +0000

So what happens with the by-product, the CO or carbon-monoxide ? As far as I know it is a very poisonous gas, compared to ordinary CO2. It can kill a man in a couple of minutes by permanently blocking the red blood cells. I hope it is not meant to be released in the atmosphere, lol ?