Scientists Accidentally Discover Efficient Process to Turn CO2 Into Ethanol

[GrouchoTex]

For those is Rio Linda, dihydrogen monoxide is (wait for it)  H₂O aka "water".

Yep.
 

[thackney]

True enough, but as I understand it, the energy input could come from electricity generated with solar panels, which is a relatively clean input.

If you depend on only solar energy, that means you will not run on a steady basis, further raising the cost and making it less efficient.

[thackney]

Not even with the feedstock being free?

I'm more interested in it's use in terraforming. Got Venus sitting right over there - same size, same gravity. Perfect, other than it's atmosphere, in other words.

You know a way to separate the 0.04% of the C02 in the atmosphere from all the other gases for free?  And compress it?

[EC]

You know a way to separate the 0.04% of the C02 in the atmosphere from all the other gases for free?  And compress it?

Don't need to. The catalyst grabs it on it's own. No seperation needed.

[andy58-in-nh]

Scientists Accidentally Discover Efficient Process to Turn CO2 Into Ethanol

Big deal. I can turn Burger King onion rings into methane in less than an hour.

I got yer methane right here.

[ShadowAce]

Big corn needs to adapt and produce other products, and it can if it chooses.

What other products?  Without CO², no plants will grow.  Now we'll kill not only corn, but every other type of plant in the world.

[Free Vulcan]

What other products?  Without CO², no plants will grow.  Now we'll kill not only corn, but every other type of plant in the world.

Other products than ethanol.

[Oceander]

What other products?  Without CO², no plants will grow.  Now we'll kill not only corn, but every other type of plant in the world.

Nobody is talking about removing all of the CO2 from the atmosphere.

[LateForLunch]

Nobody is talking about removing all of the CO2 from the atmosphere.

Driftdiver joked about doing it. Someone forgot to turn up the humor detector sensitivity on their "settings".

Actually Driftdiver's joke raises a great point. All of this asinine talk by ecoparanoids of doing insanely reckless things like trying to control the planet's average temperature like a thermostat - whether it is by reducing atmospheric trace gases like CO2 by scrubbing air or putting diapers on cows or plugging volcanos with rubber balls - if such a thing as "climatic temperature control" were even possible (reducing geophysical solar heat retention / average atmospheric temperature) once the dynamic were set in motion, there is no guarantee that the process could be easily reversed and we could just as easily be setting a process into motion that causes an ice age.   

Since the moderating mechanisms of physical geographical systems are inconceivably complex (which is why AGW "models" never accurately predict results) endeavoring to significantly reduce planetary CO2 could be tantamount to attempting to commit plantary suicide.

It's long past time the ecoparanoids were relegated to their rightful place in society - in the same rubber rooms as all other dangerous lunatics who are detached from reality and who want to take over the world.

[thackney]

Don't need to. The catalyst grabs it on it's own. No seperation needed.

False.  The write up clearly states they start with "CO2-saturated aqueous solutions", not free air.


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/slct.201601169/full

[r9etb]

False.  The write up clearly states they start with "CO2-saturated aqueous solutions", not free air.

So you start with a good source of CO₂....

"Woooah, duuude!  That coal-fired power plant looks like a big hookah!"

[thackney]

So you start with a good source of CO₂....

"Woooah, duuude!  That coal-fired power plant looks like a big hookah!"

A coal fired power plant is not putting out pure CO2.  Separation is required, taking energy and cost.  Not free as the previous poster suggested.

[Joe Wooten]

A coal fired power plant is not putting out pure CO2.  Separation is required, taking energy and cost.  Not free as the previous poster suggested.

Hell, back in 1979-80, Texas Utilities was looking at putting a CO2 separator on the two bigger units at the Morgan Creek plant (gas fired) where I was working. We were going to sell the CO2 to the oil companies for Tertiary oil recovery efforts in the Permian Basin. We got as far as preliminary construction design when a big deep gas strike in the upper panhandle happened and this gas had a high percentage of CO2 in it that was easier to deal with than furnace stack gasses. If I remember right, the separator process for the 500 MW unit was going to take around 3-4 MW to separate the CO2 out from the rest of the gasses.

[thackney]

Hell, back in 1979-80, Texas Utilities was looking at putting a CO2 separator on the two bigger units at the Morgan Creek plant (gas fired) where I was working. We were going to sell the CO2 to the oil companies for Tertiary oil recovery efforts in the Permian Basin. We got as far as preliminary construction design when a big deep gas strike in the upper panhandle happened and this gas had a high percentage of CO2 in it that was easier to deal with than furnace stack gasses. If I remember right, the separator process for the 500 MW unit was going to take around 3-4 MW to separate the CO2 out from the rest of the gasses.

Yes it is an effective CO2 source.  It just is not a free CO2 source, or even an economically competitive source, as the post I responded to was discussing. 

I notice you said they work looking at doing this.  I believe they never did due to cost.  There are cleaner and less costly sources such as:  The natural CO2 deposits at McElmo Dome (CO), Bravo Dome (NM), and Sheep Mountain Dome (CO) are estimated to hold upwards of 20 Tcf of recoverable CO2.  CO2 emissions, from gas processing plants and hydrogen plants in the region (estimated at 384 MMcf/d), could provide additional high concentration (relatively low cost) CO2.

More info available:

BASIN ORIENTED STRATEGIES FOR CO2 ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY:
EAST & CENTRAL TEXAS
http://www.adv-res.com/pdf/Basin%20Oriented%20Strategies%20-%20East%20&%20Central%20Texas.pdf

Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery (CO2 EOR):
Factors Involved in Adding Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) to Enhanced Oil Recovery
http://neori.org/Melzer_CO2EOR_CCUS_Feb2012.pdf

Permian Basin CO2 EOR Volumes Sold

Approximately 90% of the CO2 supplies have been provided by the “big four” suppliers: KinderMorgan, ExxonMobil, Oxy, and SandRidge. In recent years, Hess and Trinity CO2 have joined the list with the latter emerging as a “proxy” supplier by way of aggregating some supplies from small interest owners in McElmo Dome and a small natural gas plant recovery plant, La Veta, near the Sheep Mountain source field in south central Colorado.

The breakdown of this supply by CO2 source is shown in Figure 5.3.2 and Table 5.3.2. As shown, the vast majority of these supplies (1.15Bcfd or 33 MMcmd) come from McElmo Dome. Oxy’s Bravo Dome (combined in Figure 5.3.2 with Hess’ West Bravo Dome) is next and the remaining four make up the difference in roughly equal volumes.



Current Permian Basin EOR Projects and CO2 Supply
https://hub.globalccsinstitute.com/publications/bridging-commercial-gap-carbon-capture-and-storage/53-current-permian-basin-eor

[Oceander]

Driftdiver joked about doing it. Someone forgot to turn up the humor detector sensitivity on their "settings".

Actually Driftdiver's joke raises a great point. All of this asinine talk by ecoparanoids of doing insanely reckless things like trying to control the planet's average temperature like a thermostat - whether it is by reducing atmospheric trace gases like CO2 by scrubbing air or putting diapers on cows or plugging volcanos with rubber balls - if such a thing as "climatic temperature control" were even possible (reducing geophysical solar heat retention / average atmospheric temperature) once the dynamic were set in motion, there is no guarantee that the process could be easily reversed and we could just as easily be setting a process into motion that causes an ice age.   

Since the moderating mechanisms of physical geographical systems are inconceivably complex (which is why AGW "models" never accurately predict results) endeavoring to significantly reduce planetary CO2 could be tantamount to attempting to commit plantary suicide.

It's long past time the ecoparanoids were relegated to their rightful place in society - in the same rubber rooms as all other dangerous lunatics who are detached from reality and who want to take over the world.

No need for gratuitous insults.  If I make a mistake I'm generally amenable to having that pointed out. I'm not a Trumpist after all. 

[LateForLunch]

No need for gratuitous insults.  If I make a mistake I'm generally amenable to having that pointed out. I'm not a Trumpist after all.

O.K. now you need to turn DOWN the sensitivity setting so you may respond to mild chiding by way of joking with the good natured tone in which it was intended.

Denigrating people who support Trump endlessly by way of cheap shots and shallow, snide pejorative sniping diminishes you, sieur. If you don't want to vote for him, then don't vote for him. But for all of my flaws, imagined or real, at least I do not sit on my hands in a desperately important election and call it "heroism" as some "anti-Trumpsters" commonly do.

People who take that position are largely equivalent in my own mind to people who habitually offer lots of advice, lots of criticism and no help. 

[Oceander]

O.K. now you need to turn DOWN the sensitivity setting so you may respond to mild chiding by way of joking with the good natured tone in which it was intended.

Denigrating people who support Trump endlessly by way of cheap shots and shallow, snide pejorative sniping diminishes you, sieur. If you don't want to vote for him, then don't vote for him. But for all of my flaws, imagined or real, at least I do not sit on my hands in a desperately important election and call it "heroism" as some "anti-Trumpsters" commonly do.

People who take that position are largely equivalent in my own mind to people who habitually offer lots of advice, lots of criticism and no help. 

Touchy touchy.  Need a safe space?

[LateForLunch]

Touchy touchy.  Need a safe space?

All due respect (and that is great) I am not the one who keeps posting complaints about the manner in which others joke around in their own posts (you have done that twice on this thread).  BTW a substantive response instead of a flippant, defensive one dodging the central points would be nice.

[Oceander]

All due respect (and that is great) I am not the one who keeps posting complaints about the manner in which others joke around in their own posts (you have done that twice on this thread).  BTW a substantive response instead of a flippant, defensive one dodging the central points would be nice.

 

[Smokin Joe]

A coal fired power plant is not putting out pure CO2.  Separation is required, taking energy and cost.  Not free as the previous poster suggested.

Actually, I can think of two sources...One, a deep formation in the Basin here, which produced so much CO2 with the natural gas that it would have cost more to strip the CO2 out than the gas was worth, and coal gassification, which produces significant amounts of CO2, so much it was sent north to Canada from the synfuels plant for tertiary recovery injection

http://www.dakotagas.com/Products/pipeline_liquefied_gases/carbon-dioxide/