Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel

[ScienceRocks]

Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel

A team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have developed a way to convert waste carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into synthetic gas, or syngas. Syngas is a precursor of gasoline and other fuels. A study detailing the discovery appears in the July 30 issue of Nature Communications.

In a major step toward commercial viability, the researchers have come up with an innovative two-step process that uses molybdenum disulfide and an ionic liquid to “reduce” or transfer electrons to carbon dioxide in a chemical reaction, according to a university statement. This new catalytic method will improve efficiency and reduce cost by taking the place of expensive metals like gold or silver in the reduction reaction.

“With this catalyst, we can directly reduce carbon dioxide to syngas without the need for a secondary, expensive gasification process,” said UIC graduate student and co-lead author Mohammed Asadi in a statement. Other chemical-reduction methods only produce carbon monoxide. The new process yields syngas, a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

Read more: Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel | Science Recorder


Maybe we can land a few thousand of these on venus and start converting the co2 over to something useful.

 

[Mr. H.]

Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel

A team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have developed a way to convert waste carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into synthetic gas, or syngas. Syngas is a precursor of gasoline and other fuels. A study detailing the discovery appears in the July 30 issue of Nature Communications.

In a major step toward commercial viability, the researchers have come up with an innovative two-step process that uses molybdenum disulfide and an ionic liquid to “reduce” or transfer electrons to carbon dioxide in a chemical reaction, according to a university statement. This new catalytic method will improve efficiency and reduce cost by taking the place of expensive metals like gold or silver in the reduction reaction.

“With this catalyst, we can directly reduce carbon dioxide to syngas without the need for a secondary, expensive gasification process,” said UIC graduate student and co-lead author Mohammed Asadi in a statement. Other chemical-reduction methods only produce carbon monoxide. The new process yields syngas, a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

Read more: Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel | Science Recorder


Maybe we can land a few thousand of these on venus and start converting the co2 over to something useful.

Cool.

Get back to me in 40 years.

Thanking you in advance...

 

[waltky]

Southern Ocean gets better at absorbing CO2...

Southern Ocean shows unexpected revival
Sat, Sep 12, 2015 - The Southern Ocean, which acts as one of the natural world’s most effective sponges for absorbing carbon dioxide, is showing signs of an unexpected revival in its ability to do so, according to scientists.

The oceans absorb about a quarter of emissions caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, reducing the speed of climate change. About 40 percent of this occurs in the Southern Ocean, which surrounds the Antarctic, making it the planet’s strongest ocean carbon sink. The researchers said the new findings are surprising and remarkable. Earlier studies had suggested that rising emissions caused by humans had brought about the saturation of the Southern Ocean in the 1980s. Researchers estimated that the efficiency of the Southern Ocean to absorb carbon dioxide had dropped by about 30 percent, which they put down to higher wind speeds across the area which brought carbon-rich waters to the surface. This was itself a consequence of climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer, they said, creating a feedback loop that would only get worse over time.

However, the new report published in the journal Science shows that this downward trend in capacity reversed in about 2002 and regained its former strength in line with rising emissions by 2012. The scientists put the change down to a combination of dropping water surface temperatures in the Pacific sector and a change in ocean circulation keeping carbon rich waters below those at the surface. “A strong carbon sink in the Southern Ocean helps to mitigate climate change for the moment, as otherwise even more CO2 would have stayed in the atmosphere, but we cannot conclude that this will continue forever. One has to recognize that despite this remarkable increase in the Southern Ocean carbon sink, emissions have gone up even more,” said Nicolas Gruber, lead author and an environmental physicist.

The international team analyzed measurements of carbon dioxide in surface waters over a 30-year period from 1982. They compared this data with atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements and satellite observations. Gruber said the new report did not contradict the findings of earlier studies, but did challenge the conclusions drawn from them, arguing that previous research had been largely dependent on models rather than observations. “The models don’t do a particularly good job in modeling the Southern Ocean, so I would say this is much much stronger evidence. It is crucial that we continue to make these observations and analyze them to detect further changes in the uptake,” he said.

The research team say that it indicates that the ocean’s potential to absorb carbon dioxide fluctuates more over time than previously thought. Scientists have cautioned that future trends cannot be predicted reliably. “This announcement is good news, on the face of it, because we want this enormous carbon sink to keep working efficiently. It is not any reason to be complacent, however, because we still understand rather little about the internal workings of the Southern Ocean carbon cycle. For this reason we cannot be sure how resilient the Southern Ocean carbon sink will be in the future,” said Toby Tyrrell, professor in earth system science in ocean and earth science at the University of Southampton.

MORE

 

[skookerasbil]

Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel

A team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have developed a way to convert waste carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into synthetic gas, or syngas. Syngas is a precursor of gasoline and other fuels. A study detailing the discovery appears in the July 30 issue of Nature Communications.

In a major step toward commercial viability, the researchers have come up with an innovative two-step process that uses molybdenum disulfide and an ionic liquid to “reduce” or transfer electrons to carbon dioxide in a chemical reaction, according to a university statement. This new catalytic method will improve efficiency and reduce cost by taking the place of expensive metals like gold or silver in the reduction reaction.

“With this catalyst, we can directly reduce carbon dioxide to syngas without the need for a secondary, expensive gasification process,” said UIC graduate student and co-lead author Mohammed Asadi in a statement. Other chemical-reduction methods only produce carbon monoxide. The new process yields syngas, a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

Read more: Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel | Science Recorder


Maybe we can land a few thousand of these on venus and start converting the co2 over to something useful.

Cool.

Get back to me in 40 years.

Thanking you in advance...

Ahhh..............Mr H beat me to it!!! Mr H......that post made me burst out laughing for real!!!!! This guy Matthew loves to pwn himself. How does one get this far into life and continue to be so damn naïve?

Coal, oil and natural gas will dominate the energy landscape of the world out at least to 2050. Anybody who thinks other wise is to be commended for having a fabulous imagination.

 

[waltky]

Possible dip in CO2 emissions...

Study sees possible unexpected decline in worldwide carbon dioxide emissions
Monday 7th December, 2015 — Global carbon dioxide emissions may be dropping ever so slightly this year, spurred by a dramatic plunge in Chinese pollution, according to a surprising new study by a scientific team that regularly tracks heat-trapping pollution.

The unexpected dip could either be a temporary blip or true hope that the world is about to turn the corner on carbon pollution as climate talks continue in Paris, said the authors of a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. One skeptical scientist offered a $10,000 bet that world emissions will keep rising. Still, some leaders cheered the study. “That shouldn’t tell us we don’t need to do anything, but that shows there is action,” Janos Pasztor, the United Nations Assistant Secretary General for climate change, told The Associated Press at the Paris climate talks. “Things are going in the right direction. All we need is a strong agreement.”

Using preliminary data through October 2015, the international team of emission trackers project that worldwide emissions this year will end 220 million tons of carbon dioxide less than the 39.6 billion tons they calculated for 2014. That’s a 0.6 percent decrease, but there’s a margin of error — so the difference from last year to this could be as big a drop of 1.6 percent or actually a 0.5 percent increase, the study said. The projected global emissions for 2015 calculate to the world spewing on average 150 million pounds of carbon dioxide each minute. Study authors said this would be the first time global carbon dioxide emissions have dropped, even if only slightly, while the world economy grows. Global emissions fell during the last big recession.

The team’s emissions figures for 2014 — not projections, but hard data — show a 0.6 percent increase from 2013, about 220 million tons. That’s much lower than previous annual rates. From 2000 to 2009, world heat-trapping gas emissions grew about 3.3 percent a year and in recent years it was in the 1 to 2.5 percent range, said study co-author Corinne Le Quere of the University of East Anglia. But it could also be a blip with emissions going right back up, she said. “We have a mountain [of emissions] in front of us,” Ms. Le Quere said. “Maybe the mountain is a bit less and steep than we thought. But it’s still a mountain.”

MORE

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel

A team of scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have developed a way to convert waste carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into synthetic gas, or syngas. Syngas is a precursor of gasoline and other fuels. A study detailing the discovery appears in the July 30 issue of Nature Communications.

In a major step toward commercial viability, the researchers have come up with an innovative two-step process that uses molybdenum disulfide and an ionic liquid to “reduce” or transfer electrons to carbon dioxide in a chemical reaction, according to a university statement. This new catalytic method will improve efficiency and reduce cost by taking the place of expensive metals like gold or silver in the reduction reaction.

“With this catalyst, we can directly reduce carbon dioxide to syngas without the need for a secondary, expensive gasification process,” said UIC graduate student and co-lead author Mohammed Asadi in a statement. Other chemical-reduction methods only produce carbon monoxide. The new process yields syngas, a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

Read more: Inexpensive new catalytic method turns carbon dioxide into fuel | Science Recorder


Maybe we can land a few thousand of these on venus and start converting the co2 over to something useful.

Would think anything landing on Venus would melt before it had a chance to do its thing.

 

[waltky]

A safer way to store CO2?...

New carbon dioxide storage method has potential: scientists
Sat, Jun 11, 2016 - For the first time, scientists have successfully injected carbon dioxide into volcanic basalt soil and changed it to a solid, offering a promising way to store underground the greenhouse gas linked to climate change.

Scientists were able to pump carbon emissions into the earth and change the gas to a solid for storage within months — radically faster than previous predictions that suggested the process could take hundreds or even thousands of years. The study, published on Thursday in the journal Science, was part of pilot project Carbfix, launched in 2012 at Iceland’s Hellisheidi geothermal power plant. Scientists and engineers experimented with combining carbon dioxide and other gases with water and then piping the mixture underground.

GLOBAL WARMING

They aimed to develop a method to safely store carbon dioxide that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. The Hellisheidi plant, the world’s largest geothermal facility, energizes Reykjavik by pumping volcanically heated water to power turbines. The process produces 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year — just 5 percent of the emissions of a similarly sized coal plant, but significant nonetheless. For years, researchers have suggested limiting global warming by using carbon capture and sequestration methods like this one, but developing the technology proved challenging. In nature, basalt in contact with carbon dioxide and water produces a chemical reaction resulting in a chalky, white mineral.

REACTION TIME

However, scientists were unsure how long the reaction would take: Previous studies estimated the solidification could take upward of millennia. The basalt under Hellisheidi proved optimal, with 95 percent of the injected carbon dioxide solidifying in less than two years. “This means that we can pump down large amounts of carbon dioxide and store it in a very safe way over a very short period of time,” said study co-author Martin Stute, a hydrologist at Columbia University’s Earth Observatory. “In the future, we could think of using this for power plants in places where there is a lot of basalt — and there are many such places.”

New carbon dioxide storage method has potential: scientists - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

CO2 levels go over 400ppm for first time in 4 million years...

Antarctica Reaches Symbolic Carbon Dioxide Level
June 17, 2016 - For the first time in 4 million years, Antarctica registered carbon dioxide levels over the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. government agency responsible for monitoring conditions of the oceans and atmosphere.

Scientists at NOAA say the South Pole “has shown the same, relentless upward trend in CO2 as the rest of world,” but that it took longer for it to register. “The far southern hemisphere was the last place on earth where CO2 had not yet reached this mark,” said Pieter Tans, the lead scientist of NOAA's Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. “Global CO2 levels will not return to values below 400 ppm in our lifetimes, and almost certainly for much longer.”

CO2 levels tend to rise in colder months, since the warmer months in the northern hemisphere see plants capture some of it. But NOAA says that plants aren’t enough, as CO2 levels have risen every year since 1958, when measurements began.

The pressure ridges (ice formations) below Observation Hill, a 754-foot hill adjacent to McMurdo Station in Antarctica.​

The agency said that last year saw global CO2 reach 399 ppm, which it says means 2016 will almost surely reach 400 or more. The annual rate of increase jumped by more than three ppm last year, the largest increase ever measured. “We know from abundant and solid evidence that the CO2 increase is caused entirely by human activities,” Tans said. “Since emissions from fossil fuel burning have been at a record high during the last several years, the rate of CO2 increase has also been at a record high. And we know some of it will remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years.”

Antarctica Reaches Symbolic Carbon Dioxide Level

 

[waltky]

Plants breathe CO2...

Researchers to See How Much Carbon Dioxide Forests Can Take
June 21, 2017 — Researchers at a British University have embarked on a decade-long experiment that will pump a forest full of carbon dioxide to measure how it copes with rising levels of the gas, a key driver of climate change.

The Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) will expose a fenced-off section of mature woodland in Norbury Park in Staffordshire, West Midlands, to levels of CO2 that experts predict will be prevalent in 2050. Scientists aim to measure the forest’s capacity to capture carbon released by fossil fuel burning, and answer questions about their capacity to absorb carbon pollution long-term. “[Forests] happily take a bit more CO2 because that’s their main nutrient. But we don’t know how much more and whether they can do that indefinitely,” BIFoR co-director Michael Tausz told Reuters.

A project in Washington state is ensuring that forest land remains intact around Mount Rainier National Park, so the trees can continue to grow and store carbon dioxide emissions. In England, researchers are testing how much carbon dioxide trees can take.​

Carbon dioxide record

The apparatus for the experiment consists of a series of masts built into six 30-meter-wide sections of woodland, reaching up about 25 meters into the forest canopy. Concentrated CO2 is fed through pipes to the top of the masts where it is pumped into the foliage. Last year the U.N World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that the global average of carbon dioxide, the main man-made greenhouse gas, reached 400 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere for the first time on record. “The forest here sees nearly 40 percent more CO2 than it sees normally, because that’s what it will be globally in about 2050; a value of 550 parts per million, compared to 400 parts per million now,” Tausz said.

Deforestation

With deforestation shrinking the carbon storage capacity of the world’s forests, researchers hope that a greater understanding of their role in climate change mitigation could help policymakers make informed decisions. “We could get a clear idea of whether they can keep helping us into the future by sucking up more CO2,” Tausz said. The remainder of the Norbury Park woodland is open to the public and will not be affected by the experiment.

Researchers to See How Much Carbon Dioxide Forests Can Take

 

[IsaacNewton]

Humans dump 70 trillion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. The CO2 cycle in the atmosphere is hundreds of years, possibly one thousand years. Which means if humans stopped all injection of CO2 into the atmosphere today the problem would continue for 300-1000 years.

Cognitive dissonance in the human brain has stalled action on this threat for decades. It's very easy to get people that want desperately to believe something isn't real that it isn't real. Just say 'it isn't real' and many of them out of subconscious fear will believe it.

 

[skookerasbil]

Humans dump 70 trillion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. The CO2 cycle in the atmosphere is hundreds of years, possibly one thousand years. Which means if humans stopped all injection of CO2 into the atmosphere today the problem would continue for 300-1000 years.

Cognitive dissonance in the human brain has stalled action on this threat for decades. It's very easy to get people that want desperately to believe something isn't real that it isn't real. Just say 'it isn't real' and many of them out of subconscious fear will believe it.

LMAO.........one of the best posts of the year!!!

 

[Billy_Bob]

Possible dip in CO2 emissions...

Study sees possible unexpected decline in worldwide carbon dioxide emissions
Monday 7th December, 2015 — Global carbon dioxide emissions may be dropping ever so slightly this year, spurred by a dramatic plunge in Chinese pollution, according to a surprising new study by a scientific team that regularly tracks heat-trapping pollution.

The unexpected dip could either be a temporary blip or true hope that the world is about to turn the corner on carbon pollution as climate talks continue in Paris, said the authors of a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. One skeptical scientist offered a $10,000 bet that world emissions will keep rising. Still, some leaders cheered the study. “That shouldn’t tell us we don’t need to do anything, but that shows there is action,” Janos Pasztor, the United Nations Assistant Secretary General for climate change, told The Associated Press at the Paris climate talks. “Things are going in the right direction. All we need is a strong agreement.”

Using preliminary data through October 2015, the international team of emission trackers project that worldwide emissions this year will end 220 million tons of carbon dioxide less than the 39.6 billion tons they calculated for 2014. That’s a 0.6 percent decrease, but there’s a margin of error — so the difference from last year to this could be as big a drop of 1.6 percent or actually a 0.5 percent increase, the study said. The projected global emissions for 2015 calculate to the world spewing on average 150 million pounds of carbon dioxide each minute. Study authors said this would be the first time global carbon dioxide emissions have dropped, even if only slightly, while the world economy grows. Global emissions fell during the last big recession.

The team’s emissions figures for 2014 — not projections, but hard data — show a 0.6 percent increase from 2013, about 220 million tons. That’s much lower than previous annual rates. From 2000 to 2009, world heat-trapping gas emissions grew about 3.3 percent a year and in recent years it was in the 1 to 2.5 percent range, said study co-author Corinne Le Quere of the University of East Anglia. But it could also be a blip with emissions going right back up, she said. “We have a mountain [of emissions] in front of us,” Ms. Le Quere said. “Maybe the mountain is a bit less and steep than we thought. But it’s still a mountain.”

MORE

The Chinese were given our scrubber technology over a decade ago. They are just now beginning to employ it in their coal fired plants and retro fitting thier old ones.. American Technology cleaning up the world...

Oh for the days when we were actually dealing with cleaning up our atmosphere and our EPA was actually doing its job and not being a strong arm bully for the NWO..

 

[Billy_Bob]

Humans dump 70 trillion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. The CO2 cycle in the atmosphere is hundreds of years, possibly one thousand years. Which means if humans stopped all injection of CO2 into the atmosphere today the problem would continue for 300-1000 years.

Cognitive dissonance in the human brain has stalled action on this threat for decades. It's very easy to get people that want desperately to believe something isn't real that it isn't real. Just say 'it isn't real' and many of them out of subconscious fear will believe it.

The half life of CO2 in our atmosphere is just three years... Your crap of it lasting over 100 has been debunked long ago..

 

[bripat9643]

Humans dump 70 trillion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. The CO2 cycle in the atmosphere is hundreds of years, possibly one thousand years. Which means if humans stopped all injection of CO2 into the atmosphere today the problem would continue for 300-1000 years.

Cognitive dissonance in the human brain has stalled action on this threat for decades. It's very easy to get people that want desperately to believe something isn't real that it isn't real. Just say 'it isn't real' and many of them out of subconscious fear will believe it.

What "problem?" CO2 is good for life on earth. Or planet has previously experienced levels as high as 10,000 PPM - that's over 20 times the current level. Life thrived during these periods.

 

[IsaacNewton]

Humans dump 70 trillion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. The CO2 cycle in the atmosphere is hundreds of years, possibly one thousand years. Which means if humans stopped all injection of CO2 into the atmosphere today the problem would continue for 300-1000 years.

Cognitive dissonance in the human brain has stalled action on this threat for decades. It's very easy to get people that want desperately to believe something isn't real that it isn't real. Just say 'it isn't real' and many of them out of subconscious fear will believe it.

The half life of CO2 in our atmosphere is just three years... Your crap of it lasting over 100 has been debunked long ago..

You're lying of course. But lying has become like oxygen to conservatives. You exhale into your children's mouths while they sleep.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Humans dump 70 trillion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. The CO2 cycle in the atmosphere is hundreds of years, possibly one thousand years. Which means if humans stopped all injection of CO2 into the atmosphere today the problem would continue for 300-1000 years.

Cognitive dissonance in the human brain has stalled action on this threat for decades. It's very easy to get people that want desperately to believe something isn't real that it isn't real. Just say 'it isn't real' and many of them out of subconscious fear will believe it.

The half life of CO2 in our atmosphere is just three years... Your crap of it lasting over 100 has been debunked long ago..

You're lying of course. But lying has become like oxygen to conservatives. You exhale into your children's mouths while they sleep.

LOL...

Projecting your deficiencies again?

If h is the half life time then:

N(t) = N(o)/2 when t = h

Therefore:

N(o)/2 = N(o)/e^kh

Which resolves itself to:
h = ln(2)/k

If you take into account how much is added per month from natural sources* (8.2ppm) then those percentages change to between 2.63 and 2.81% which gives a half life of 25/26 months.Do the math moron..

Even recent papers have it less than the 35 year maximum it could be..

Atmospheric CO2, 2016