Chemical Recycling of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol and Dimethyl Ether: From Greenhouse Gas to Renewable, Environmentally Carbon Neutral Fuels and Synthetic Hydrocarbons

Abstract

Published on Web 12/08/2008 Further, one of the major challenges of our time is to find efficient new solutions beyond our diminishing fossil fuels resources (oil, natural gas, coal) and the grave environmental consequences of excessive combustion of carbon-containing fuels and their products. The concept of the "Methanol Economy" that we have developed hinges on the chemical recycling of CO 2 to useful fuels. (i.e., methanol and DME) and other products. 1,2 At the same time, it renders carbon-containing fuels renewable (on the human time scale) and environmentally neutral. This not only allows us to mitigate a major human made cause of global warming but also provides us with an inexhaustible and generally available carbon source for ages to come.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: An overview of CO2 electroreduction into hydrocarbons and liquid fuels on nanostructured copper catalysts

“…Instead, the electric field maps the exact shape of the pore and, hence, provides the extra surface area to participate in electrochemical reactions. Chronoamperometric measurements in Figure 8 show that at a smooth copper electrode the current density gradually increases from 7 to 31 mA/cm 2 (∼4.5X) with the increase of electrolyte concentration from 0.1 to 1 M KHCO 3 . On the other hand, at copper nanofoam (60 s) the current density increases sharply from 10 to 82 mA/cm 2 (∼8X) above a critical concentration of 0.5 M KHCO 3 (33).…”

“…A series of steps (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6) are predicted for the electroreduction of CO 2 at the copper electrode (33). The asterisk (*) in any reaction indicates either a surface bound specie or a vacant active site.…”

Reduction of CO2 to Methanol Catalyzed by a Biomimetic Organo-Hydride Produced from Pyridine

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] However, the chemical reduction of CO2 to highly reduced products such as methanol (CH3OH) remains a daunting task. The groups of Fujita, [11][12][13] Kubiak, 3,14 Meyer, 15-17 Savéant [18][19][20] and others [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] have made significant contributions to this field, particularly in the fundamental understanding of using transition-metal complexes to catalyze CO2's transformation.…”

Nitrogen‐Based Alternative Fuels: Progress and Future Prospects

“…Moreover, separating CO 2 from flue gas streams of scattered large power plantsa nd transporting it to hydrogen plants is not sustainable and can quicklyb ecome an expensive venture,r equiring the construction of an extensive and expensive infrastructure.T herefore,i nt he long run, the only feasible CO 2 sourcew ill be the atmosphere,w hich is affected by all emitters (large and small alike).C O 2 emissionsc ould thus be delivered to sites through the atmosphere where it is captured, an approach that has been alreadys uggested in the past. [35,[65][66][67] In comparison to atmospheric CO 2 levels( 0.04 %), [68] which are relatively low for large-scale separation and subsequent fuel synthesis,a tmospheric nitrogen levels (78.09 vol% of drya ir at sea level) [69] could be utilized more practicably. Them inimal required energy for separatinge ach of these atmospheric gases can be estimated by calculatingt he change in Gibbs energy of mixing for ideal gases,p resented in Equation (1).…”