Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have created a device that uses sunlight to transform harmful CO2 gas into fuel that could replace all the gasoline used in transportation.
Clifford Kubiak, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and Aaron Sathrum have developed a prototype device that can capture energy from the sun, convert it to electrical energy and “split” carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen.
The amazing process produces CO (carbon monoxide) which can be processed by bacterial fermentation to produce ethanol, and massive amounts industrial chemicals used to produce plastics. By splitting CO2 you can save fuel, produce useful chemicals and eliminate global warming greenhouse gases.
The device designed by Kubiak and Sathrum to split carbon dioxide utilizes a semiconductor and two thin layers of catalysts. It splits carbon dioxide to generate carbon monoxide and oxygen in a three-step process. The first step is the capture of solar energy photons by the semiconductor. The second step is the conversion of optical energy into electrical energy by the semiconductor. The third step is the deployment of electrical energy to the catalysts. The catalysts convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide on one side of the device and to oxygen on the other side.
The US uses about 400 million gallon of gasoline a day and produces about 50 million tons of CO2. The goal now is to scale this process up to replace that amount of gasoline and convert most of the manmade CO2 gases in the US.
www.nextenergynews.com/news1/...6b.html
www.nextenergynews.com/pictur...16b.jpg
Clifford Kubiak, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and Aaron Sathrum have developed a prototype device that can capture energy from the sun, convert it to electrical energy and “split” carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen.
The amazing process produces CO (carbon monoxide) which can be processed by bacterial fermentation to produce ethanol, and massive amounts industrial chemicals used to produce plastics. By splitting CO2 you can save fuel, produce useful chemicals and eliminate global warming greenhouse gases.
The device designed by Kubiak and Sathrum to split carbon dioxide utilizes a semiconductor and two thin layers of catalysts. It splits carbon dioxide to generate carbon monoxide and oxygen in a three-step process. The first step is the capture of solar energy photons by the semiconductor. The second step is the conversion of optical energy into electrical energy by the semiconductor. The third step is the deployment of electrical energy to the catalysts. The catalysts convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide on one side of the device and to oxygen on the other side.
The US uses about 400 million gallon of gasoline a day and produces about 50 million tons of CO2. The goal now is to scale this process up to replace that amount of gasoline and convert most of the manmade CO2 gases in the US.
www.nextenergynews.com/news1/...6b.html
www.nextenergynews.com/pictur...16b.jpg
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Re: Scientists invent device to stop Global Warming
Wed, August 1, 2007 - 2:24 AMMexican scientists actually invented a very efficient device that could be used to capture CO2. It uses sunlight to remove one oxygen from CO2 to make carbon monoxide. Then polymerizes the CO and further reduces the polymer for storage. These polymers can be used to make biofuels. The "device" could even use resources from the surroundings to self propagate, creating additional devices.
It's called corn and it was selectively bread by the Mayans a few thousand years ago. -
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Re: Scientists invent device to stop Global Warming
Wed, August 1, 2007 - 4:54 AMHeh heh... yeah, well you've certainly got a point there! =)
Minor note: industrial corn cultivation renders nutrient depleted soil. -
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Re: Scientists invent device to stop Global Warming
Wed, August 1, 2007 - 5:45 AMMy main point was that nature has been perfecting carbon capture (and don't get me started on how <a href="perfect</a>" title="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuBi...ect</a>">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuBi...ect</a> it really is...) for 6 billion years. We released a half a billion years of stored carbon in 200 years. Even if we had technology to recapture it, can you imagine how much energy it would require? It's certainly less but still comparable to the amount of energy the earth receives in half a billion years!! Where can we get this energy? The sun isn't hitting the earth fast enough to provide the energy to recapture the carbon at the rate we release it, or else there would simply be a surge in plants rather than an increase in CO2.
I don't think biofuels are the answer. At the same time plants are the best bet for carbon consumption. The only conclusion I can draw is that there's not enough soil for us to be doing all this. Mankind's fossil fuel consumption alone is equal to 1% of the sunlight that hits the earth. Plants capture less than that! I think the only real solution is to stop using oil for the majority of our energy needs and let the earth fix itself. We stopped using CFC's 13 years ago and the hole in the ozone is almost gone!! So I guess my solution is to make electric cars and cover deserts in solar panels.
One last side note, syn gas (a similar use of CO to make large molecules) is one of the research topics of one of the professors at my school. I wasn't trying to bash it, I just don't think it'll solve global warming. But once the oil runs out that technology will be damn important for making plastics and solvents. -
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Re: Scientists invent device to stop Global Warming
Wed, August 1, 2007 - 6:10 AMhmmm... my knowledge of the internet is out of date. That parenthetical is non essential. But check out the link any way. Go ask the Wiki Gods about RuBisCo. You'll be a lot better for it.
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Re: Scientists invent device to stop Global Warming
Wed, August 1, 2007 - 8:32 AMYou know, ever since I realized that I was now a grown up (technically speaking) and *still* didn't have a flying car, I've felt bitter towards science for all the unfulfilled promises. Wait, sorry, that was the Jetsons...nevermind ;)
Actually I tend to agree with chris here. The first thing to do is to stop hitting ourselves in the faces, then we can attend to the wounds from hitting ourselves in our faces. I suspect that most of us will continue to hit ourselves in the faces but equipped with special "greenwashed" face hitting devices that need to be replaced every 100 face hits - gotta keep the economy moving and as long as there is money to be made in face hitting it'll continue.
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Re: Scientists invent device to stop Global Warming
Mon, August 6, 2007 - 12:49 AMputting on fashionable face-protector... ;-)
Yes, I completely agree with just about all you stated there Chris.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I sense that you *might* be underestimating the exponential evolutionary potentials which emerge at life's most critical junctures, and that this technology may yet prove itself useful as part of a larger gamma of emerging solutions...
In some ways, I see the current biospheric crisis as a self-willed cataclysm of sorts, destined to bring about the next evolutionary leap. Actively searching for all possible solutions to our problems, including coming up with any and all -limited- technological approaches such as these, is a part of that I think. They push us forward on multiple fronts, diversifying our knowledge and skills...
Biologically speaking, we're complex slow-evolving organisms. But we're not limited strictly to biological evolution of course. We evolve psychologically, culturally, through our own creations, through technology... the latter representing this kind of 'evolutionary accelerator' if you will. It is crucial in terms of ramping up our 'adaptability' potential in order to match -and offset- the rate of change we've set in motion throughout our environment. Technology *can* become a lifeline in this regard, and not just strictly for us but the entire ecosystem.
I don't believe that the Global Warming dilemma will be solved in any meaningful manner with this new development myself. In conjunction with other methods it may still help slow down the process though, perhaps buying us just enough time to come up with something better. I can also see this type of technology -or some form of it- becoming useful in future 'evolution-accelerating' terra-forming efforts, when we begin to colonise outer space... What I'm saying is that there is (or will be) a place for it.
I understand that tackling the man-made causal factors of GW first and foremost calls for a complete overhaul of our relationship with nature (something which shouldn't have to be forced anyways). But I'm also convinced that we've arrived at a critical juncture which calls for an increased rate of technological progress in every respect. Behavioral changes alone won't do. Technological solutions will very much be the determining factors in terms of making it through this overwhelming mess we've created for ourselves. There is really no turning back now, on technology that is.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RuBisCo
cool, thanks! -
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Re: Scientists invent device to stop Global Warming
Tue, August 7, 2007 - 3:30 PMMy snarky off the cuff response is this: 1) we are never going to get the world to agree on a single solution and get everyone committed to it. 2) even if we could, every proposed solution has its drawbacks, and there are more than likely unforeseen problems that might emerge down the road. So instead of putting all our eggs in one basket, why not pursue as many avenues as possible? Assuming the marketplace of ideas actually works, some solutions will fail, others will succeed, and this way we have a chance to test as many of them as possible. -
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Re: Scientists invent device to stop Global Warming
Tue, August 7, 2007 - 7:01 PMI completely agree with you Peter.
The title of the article should have better read: Scientists invent device to *help* curb Global Warming :)
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