Chemists changing carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons

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Chemists changing carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons




by freddau » 19/10/06, 18:52

The alchemists, in the 2th century, wanted to transmute base metals into gold. Six centuries later, chemists specializing in electrocatalysis dream of turning carbon dioxide (COXNUMX) into hydrocarbons. The main contributor to global warming - released in quantity into the atmosphere by industries and transport - would then be as much potential fuel ...



This dream is carried by a European research program, Elcat (Electrocatalytic Gas-Phase Conversion of CO2 in Confined Catalysts), whose objective is to control this coveted reaction of "reduction" of carbon dioxide - and this with a very low input energetic.

Launched at the end of 2004, the project brings together four European universities and research institutes. It was the subject of a first noticed communication, in mid-September in San Francisco, at the congress of the American Chemical Society and, according to its coordinator Gabriele Centi, professor at the University of Messina (Italy), it raised "of great interest", despite its very exploratory character. The reason for this craze is simple: the carbon dioxide molecule is very stable and making it react without significant energy input is particularly delicate.

"The ultimate goal of this work is to somehow design a cell that works on the same principle as photosynthesis, that is, capable of using solar energy and water to transform carbon dioxide. into useful products entering into the composition of our current fuels ", explains Gauthier Winé, researcher in the Carbides and nanostructures group of the Laboratory of Materials, Surfaces and Processes for Catalysis (LMSPC) in Strasbourg, associated with the project.

A first element of the device is based on the use of solar energy and a titanium-based catalyst to "crack" the water molecule and obtain electrons and protons. The two products of this first reaction are then used in a second step to carry out the actual “reduction” of the CO2 into hydrocarbons. "Our work does not relate specifically to the first step of the process, which is the subject of numerous studies around the world, specifies Julien Amadou, doctoral student at LMSPC. We are working on the second, which concentrates the difficulties and is based on an absolutely news."

This crucial step requires the use of another catalyst. In contact with this material - made up of platinum particles - "CO2 reacts with electrons and protons to be reduced to methanol or alkanes" (methane, butane, propane, etc.), explains Mr. Winé. According to the researcher, the efficiency of the reaction is still tenuous: "We manage today to convert 20 milliliters of carbon dioxide per minute, at room temperature and pressure, which is very interesting from the point of view of the energy balance since there is no need to heat or cool the reagents, ”he says.

In the future, progress in the manufacture of carbon nanotubes - which are the seat of the reaction, where the reactants and the catalyst come into contact - should make it possible to improve the speed and the yield of the process. This use of carbon nanotubes is necessary because it considerably increases the contact surface between the various ingredients of the reaction and the catalyst.

Work is also being carried out on the catalyst itself, to lower its cost and increase its efficiency. "Today we mainly use platinum but we are also working on experimenting with other noble metals," says Amadou. "By improving the catalyst, we will be able to increase the speed of the gas passing through the cell."

How many years of laboratory research will it take for the process to be implemented by industry? "It depends on many factors, and in particular on the interest shown by other research groups and industrialists in this very exploratory field where we are today alone, responds Gabriele Centi, coordinator of the project. But to remain realistic , it takes at least ten years before any large-scale applications. " However, the capacities of these devices will not, in the medium term, make it possible to produce hydrocarbons from the CO2 present in the atmosphere. This is indeed there, as explained by Mr. Centi, "in concentrations too low to be exploited". “It doesn't seem impossible, but it will take many more years of work,” says Centi. “The first applications will probably be to exploit carbon dioxide emissions from power stations or factories.”

Other ways than electrocatalysis can be explored. Some research institutes are thinking in particular of ways to use the metabolism of microorganisms (bacteria or archaea) to reduce hydrocarbons to certain carbon forms which are incapable of combustion.

Stéphane Foucart
www.lemonde.fr
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freddau
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by freddau » 19/10/06, 18:54

In fact I didn't really know where to put this post.
:))

In renewable energy lol
Process improvement.
In fossil energy



Another technological gadget ??
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Cuicui
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by Cuicui » 19/10/06, 21:43

"The ultimate goal of this work is to somehow design a cell that works on the same principle as photosynthesis, that is, capable of using solar energy and water to transform carbon dioxide. into useful products entering into the composition of our current fuels ", explains Gauthier Winé, researcher in the Carbides and nanostructures group of the Laboratory of Materials, Surfaces and Processes for Catalysis (LMSPC) in Strasbourg, associated with the project.

Since nature does this very well (manufacture of biomass usable to produce fuel), what is the point of handling if we know in advance that it cannot lead to a practical application?
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by Christine » 19/10/06, 22:14

Cuicui wrote:"The ultimate goal of this work is to somehow design a cell that works on the same principle as photosynthesis, that is, capable of using solar energy and water to transform carbon dioxide. into useful products entering into the composition of our current fuels ", explains Gauthier Winé, researcher in the Carbides and nanostructures group of the Laboratory of Materials, Surfaces and Processes for Catalysis (LMSPC) in Strasbourg, associated with the project.

Since nature does this very well (making biomass that can be used to produce fuel), what is the point of handling?


Nobody warned them that you can plant trees and heat with wood? that we can roll in oil?
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by freddau » 19/10/06, 22:49

mmmmmmhhh,

well it's about controlling the reaction, right ??
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by elephant » 20/10/06, 00:06

cuicui said:

Since nature does this very well (manufacture of biomass usable to produce fuel), what is the point of handling if we know in advance that it cannot lead to a practical application?


Come on, come on! Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water! Admittedly, it is not yet tomorrow that we will heat our hovels with this process (which does not solve the problem of CO2 emissions, because it will produce : Mrgreen: ), but it's quite interesting, it's research. point. I think that we are getting out of our usual subjects.
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by pollux » 06/03/07, 18:54

happy family!

the Japanese have avowed in this area ...

http://www.bulletins-electroniques.com/actualites/41547.htm

A group of researchers from the University of Kyoto has developed a material that could be used to reproduce photosynthesis at low cost. This innovation could allow the use of cheap and efficient systems to synthesize sugars and ethanol from light and carbon dioxide. This system would also have the advantage of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Under the direction of Dr. Hideki Koyanaka, the researchers used an innovative combustion technique to produce very pure manganese dioxide particles, the size of several nanometers. The material developed is therefore manganese-based, which costs a few hundred yen (about a few euros) per kilo and plays a major role in photosynthesis here. The small particle size makes the material more reactive and efficient when imitation of the natural phenomenon of photosynthesis.

In theory, researchers believe that this material should be able to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere 300 times more effectively than plants. In view of the low cost of their system, they plan to market their material in practical, small devices that would reduce the emission of carbon dioxide at the source, that is to say that would be loaded into cars or used by factories.


I do not know if the figures given are realistic, but 300 times more efficient than natural photosynthesis, that makes you dream ...
on the other hand, it will be necessary to explain to me how they intend to do photosynthesis at the outlet of the exhaust since they need solar energy ....
it would surprise me that the roof area of ​​a car is sufficient.

but hey it's encouraging isn't it?
what if science finally got us out of the climate mess?
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by Rabbit » 06/03/07, 19:14

It seems to me that it would be easier to inject from the basement
raw vegetable oil. Rather than doing research
which will ultimately have the same result in 10 ... 20 or 30
years. As much as it will give farmers work,
as well as all the jobs around them.
could be used as fuel for fixed installations or
simply to land the cropland.
real objectives of these research centers is not
save fuel but get subsidies for
save their job on the pretext of converting a few liters
of CO2 in ml of fuel destined anyway to return
from the atmosphere after combustion.
I don't really see how this research, which costs a
bridge will save us from ecological upheavals which
have already started. Maybe they should find a way
to fix methane reserves to solidify on continental shelves before CO2 becomes an element
minor from global warming.
As a reminder, the oceans also heat up, less quickly
but the effects will be really painful when you want
l admit it.
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by Capt_Maloche » 06/03/07, 20:45

EH POLLUX!

It's not an E2PZ on your photo? :D
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by pollux » 06/03/07, 20:50

sisi, this is one ... : Mrgreen: : Mrgreen:
I've been trying to make one for a while, but I don't really understand the culture of crystals or the production of the subspace to have energy ... : Lol:

this stuff would be both a dream and a nightmare. a non-polluting and almost unlimited source of energy, but capable by itself of pulverizing a planet.
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