r/environment • u/BlondFaith • 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
17 Upvotes

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2

u/UnCommonSense99 Aug 06 '20

Don't get too excited by this. Think of it as a kind of battery. You take electricity that you don't need right now, and store it in the form of ethanol which could be used to heat a home, power a car or get someone drunk. It doesn't solve the GHG problem because the CO2 is only temporarily turned into alcohol, once the alcohol is burned it turns back into CO2 and water again.

1

u/BlondFaith Aug 06 '20

Say you turn it into hand sanitizer, does that release CO2?

1

u/UnCommonSense99 Aug 06 '20

If you use it to sanitise your hands, and it gets absorbed into your body, then yes, it would end up as CO2, same as if you drink alcohol.

1

u/BlondFaith Aug 06 '20

What if it evaporates?

1

u/UnCommonSense99 Aug 07 '20

I'm not sure....

1

u/BlondFaith Aug 07 '20

This might help you think😉 https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/07/air-co-is-making-eco-friendly-vodka-using-carbon-dioxide-and-water.html

1

u/UnCommonSense99 Aug 07 '20

Ok, i found out that if alcohol from hand gel evaporated into the air, it would.be eventually broken down by sunlight into CO2 and water.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 06 '20

It does serve as energy / carbon sequestration, which is very exciting. However, it does not help the cumulative CO2 production and also, these "new technologies" are often announced but never seem to materialize.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 06 '20

I know of an industry or two that can contribute shitloads of this stuff.