r/climatechange • u/technologyisnatural • Aug 06 '20

Turning carbon dioxide into liquid fuel. Scientists have discovered a new electrocatalyst that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into ethanol with very high energy efficiency, high selectivity for the desired final product and low cost.

https://www.anl.gov/article/turning-carbon-dioxide-into-liquid-fuel
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u/eccyrider Aug 08 '20

Does burning the ethanol then release the CO2 again? Surely it does?

3

u/technologyisnatural Aug 08 '20

Yes, but it is more like burning wood (which uses CO2 to grow) and less like burning fossil fuels that have sequestered carbon for millions of years.

1

u/eccyrider Aug 08 '20

So this process is more about current carbon polluting industries being able to capitalize on their waste product. I understand that this would make fossil fuels much more efficient so that's a good thing but surely there are still losses. How would trucks capture their emissions for example.

3

u/technologyisnatural Aug 08 '20

Yes, mainly coal and gas fired electric power plants, but can also be used where a power plant has transitioned to biofuels (e.g., wood) or to CO2 captured directly from the atmosphere, etc.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '20

Right and incentives provide good reason - Soon enough, assuming we adopt this technology or comparable technology, we'll have a system which fully sequesters CO2.