Researchers at the Delft University of Technology have found a way to use electric current to transform atmospheric carbon into other carbon compounds - including ethanol, a key ingredient in alcoholic beverages.
The global alcoholic beverage industry receives billions of dollars annually. In the USA alone, its economic activity is 475 billion dollars a year. It takes careful planning and time to create your favorite alcoholic beverage - be it beer, wine, bourbon, or scotch. But what if alcohol could be obtained straight out of thin air? This is what researchers in the Netherlands have learned to do.
Doctoral student Ming Ma and a group of researchers from Delft University of Technology have discovered a way to convert air pollutants into ethanol, methanol and any other carbonaceous substances. Ming Ma's doctoral project did not aim to save on alcohol. It began as a search for a solution to the problem of dangerous carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
An important area of atmospheric pollutants is carbon sequestration
Carbon capture refers to the technology of extracting carbon compounds from industrial emissions from facilities such as coal-fired power plants. The most famous technology for this is CSS - for carbon capture and storage - carbon capture and storage. CSS stores atmospheric carbon in the soil, where it eventually combines with rocks. This approach is currently being used by several companies. In 2008, a power plant in Germany tested the technical suitability and efficiency of this process. Its use at the Schwarz Pumppe plant in Germany has shown an 80-90 percent reduction in emissions.
Another method, which is still in development, is carbon capture and utilization, or CCU. It converts CO2 into usable resources such as alcohol.
Ming Ma devised a way to convert carbon produced in CCU into a different type of molecule. In this case, carbon dioxide is converted into other substances under the influence of an electric current. Ma's research focuses on how different metals lead to different substances. Copper, for example, makes it possible to obtain hydrocarbons from CO2.
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The study points to the basically unlimited potential of CCU technology for the production of various compounds. In addition to ethanol, methanol and even formic acid can be produced. This technology has tremendous potential in fuel production. In essence, it would produce carbon neutral fuels, the dream of environmental engineers.
Vadim Tarabarko