Gasoline from carbon dioxide is not science fiction

July 7, 4:18 PMBreakthrough Energy ExaminerSterling Allan

Previous Next

3 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Breakthrough Energy Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Tomasz Nie?pia? 07-07-2009 

Researchers from UMCS in Poland are teaming up with Wrotkow Power of Lublin to test their method of converting CO₂ emissions from the power plant into low-cost, high-octane fuel, using a chemical process that resembles part of the photosynthesis cycle.

The following was translated from the Polish news site rp.pl by Henryk Mongialo <heniumon {at} poczta.fm> and editing by Sterling D. Allan.
Benzyna z dwutlenku w?gla to nie science fiction

Prof. Dobies?aw Nazimek of UMCS

Gasoline from carbon dioxide is not science fiction 

"The revolution is unfolding before our very eyes", said the head of research team of Professor Dobies?aw Nazimek from the University of Maria Curie-Sklodowska (UMCS). Tomorrow, Wrotków Power of Lublin, the largest producer of carbon dioxide in the Lublin and UMCS will sign a letter of intent of cooperation for the production of low-cost fuel from carbon dioxide. 

"This is an idea that could revolutionize energy and fuel", says 'Rom' John Pietrosi?ski of Lublin-Wrotków Power. 

Scientists from Lublin are committed to his invention. Nitrogen Plants in Kedzierzyn-Kozle will feature the first commercial installation. This year, four of these environmentally friendly facilities may begin construction. 

"[This is a] good initiative, for which you do not see any indications of organic." - Wojciech St?pniewski [with?] the environmental organization WWF Poland. 

Rom: How do [you], the [dept. head] and your team from the Department of Environmental Chemistry, produce fuel from carbon dioxide? 

Prof. Dobies?aw Nazimek: We used a form of artificial photosynthesis, a chemical reaction during which water and carbon dioxide, in the presence of a catalyst and under the influence of deep ultraviolet, turns into methanol. Also concurrently is the thermal separation and synthesis of MTG (with methanol in petrol). We get synthetic hydrocarbons with practically no difference from the [native] substance, which [can run] cars. This 108-octane fuel is clean and environmentally friendly. 

You can do this inexpensively? 

In Poland, with [traditional methods] it cost about 40 cents to obtain 1 liter of methanol from methane. Our method allows to obtain the same effect at 9 - 11 cents; so to produce a liter of gasoline goes from forty to just a few cents. It is impossible to estimate how much you will pay for such fuel at the station, but the price should be competitive. 

So you know how to produce cheap petrol on a large scale? 

Yes. We developed a [repeatable] method by which [a factory can] produce fuel from CO2. Anywhere that carbon dioxide is emitted [in volume], you can build such a facility and sell petrol. 

How much will this limit emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? 

Calculations indicate that the technology will help to reduce CO2 emissions in its first year by about 25 percent. 

Does this mean the end of troubles with the giant fees for excessive emission of this gas? 

Now we can manage it. 

It sounds like a revolution. 

In our eyes, its is a true technological revolution. Most countries already have reached peak oil, year by year that the raw materials derived lag resources required. Production of fuel from carbon dioxide is a solution for the economies around the world. It is a strategy that can rid our dependence on imported fuel. 

Is this the only benefit? 

We hope that the technology will also allow for the construction of a modern processing industry base and modern research. 

Where's the catch? 

We work to clean the flue, and we need time to see it in terms of actual greenhouse gas, in the presence of contamination. 

How long have you been doing testing? 

Six years, because science does not do anything quickly. The idea has been patented in the last year, but we must hurry, because our colleagues from the United States months ago obtained the same results as ours. It would be a pity if the whole world bought equipment from them, and not from us. 

But the Ministry of Economy has not supported the project. 

For many, our method is so abstract that they do not believe in its effectiveness. Several times I heard that it smacks of science fiction. It is science, but certainly not fiction 

# # #

The above is a reprint of a story at PESWiki.com