A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory reports a technological breakthrough that could have an impact on some of the most perplexing environmental and energy issues of our day — how to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, how to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and coming up with an efficient method of storing excess energy produced by the electric grid.
The team was studying how to use nanotechnology to control chemical reactions. I their work they came across a method using a copper nanoparticle catalyst that allows them to take carbon dioxide and convert it into ethanol. They say this discovery was actually an accident since they were actually expecting to produce methanol.
Ethanol produced from food crops is widely used today as a liquid fuel for vehicles; however, many people are concerned that using crops to produce fuel has an adverse effect on the amount of food available.
According to their reports, the catalytic conversion process is an efficient enough (as high as 70 per cent), to be suitable for using excess power from the electric grid to produce ethanol as a means of storing energy.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
New Process Discovered to Convert CO2 to Ethanol
A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory reports a technological breakthrough that could have an impact on some of the most perplexing environmental and energy issues of our day — how to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, how to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and coming up with an efficient method of storing excess energy produced by the electric grid.
The team was studying how to use nanotechnology to control chemical reactions. I their work they came across a method using a copper nanoparticle catalyst that allows them to take carbon dioxide and convert it into ethanol. They say this discovery was actually an accident since they were actually expecting to produce methanol.
Ethanol produced from food crops is widely used today as a liquid fuel for vehicles; however, many people are concerned that using crops to produce fuel has an adverse effect on the amount of food available.
According to their reports, the catalytic conversion process is an efficient enough (as high as 70 per cent), to be suitable for using excess power from the electric grid to produce ethanol as a means of storing energy.
A short video report is below.
A full report on the process has been published in an article in the journal Chemistry Select here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/slct.201601169/full