r/science • u/Wagamaga • Aug 06 '20

Chemistry 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/PM_ME_YOUR__BOOTY Aug 06 '20

I'm talking more on an industrial level, like in power plants for example.

So power plants should run on e-fuels? They burn the fuel we produce from renewables in order to produce less energy than used to create the fuel?

Oh you mean as a storage method. Like offshore wind during the night gets stored as methanol or something. In that case using hydrogen is just as good though, since it isn't transported?

"Cars will convert to electric anyway" I'm not so sure about that. It will only happen if we manage to mass produce a better battery than the Li-Io battery.

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u/Shiroi_Kage Aug 06 '20

Oh you mean as a storage method

Basically, yes. You collect the carbon running out of the chimneys at high concentrations, put it in a tank, and then get all the excess energy from every other non-fuel based method to convert this to ethanol, and burn it again. CO2 is a byproduct of a huge number of industrial processes, and it gets compressed and turned into dry ice all the time. So it's readily available already.

In time, power plants could become closed systems where the carbon is captured as soon as it's burned and converted to more fuel and is pumped back to the furnace/engine. Rinse, and repeat.

I'm not so sure about that. It will only happen if we manage to mass produce a better battery than the Li-Io battery

This is inevitable. With the amount of money on the line, and the number of innovations already vying to be the next big thing, it's a matter of time really.