Catalyst discovered that turns CO2 into ethanol

>>8421637
Intersting, I am curious how efficient the process actually can be made though.

If it's everything they say it is it will surely change the world
will probably be smothered by lobbyists and never see the light of day

>>8421637
Very interesting and perhaps promising also if it becomes commercially viable. I have nothing else to add but good wishes and hope this technology gets used very soon.

>catalyst
>CO2 --> CH3CH2OH

this doesnt balance

>>8421637
In a few years from now we will all be drinking beer to save the planet from CO2 induced climate change. Only to destroy it afterwards in drunken stupidity.

>when did everything go so right

Memes aside, what will the implications of this be?

>>8421675
>carbon dioxide dissolved in water
>ethanol with a yield of 63%
>reaction results in a mix of several different products in small amounts

>>8421675
want to know how I know you didn't read past the title of the article?

File: slct201601169-math-0001.png (2KB, 442x14px) Image search: [Google]

2KB, 442x14px

>>8421675

There was a small company experimenting with harvesting electrical ions from the atmosphere. Place a bunch of them all over the ocean and we'll have saved the planet, and made a bunch of fish drunk. They'll be drunk because they're celebrating.

>>8421675
[math]2CO_2+3H_2O+e=C_2H_4OH+3O_2[/math]
Lrn2electrochemistry, Pauling

>>8421699
is MathJax jacked again?

Actual paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/slct.201601169/full
>Conclusion
>The overpotential ... probably precludes economic viability for this catalyst

Problem 1: very low energy efficiency (don't mistake faradaic efficiency for energy efficiency).
Problem 2: you get ethanol, and a bunch of other products (84% selectivity), in solution with the electrolyte, requiring extraction and purifiction.
Problem 3: requires potassium bicarbonate as the CO2 source (which means it would require replenishment using pressurized CO2), thus contributing nothing to the problem of capturing CO2 from the atmosphere or ocean (if it used potassium carbonate, on the other hand, and produced potassium hydroxide, that solution would suck CO2 out of the air).

It's not practical. It's "interesting".

It really is interesting, but not from the perspective of actually producing ethanol any time soon. As they say:
>the high selectivity for a 12-electron reaction suggests that nanostructured surfaces with multiple reactive sites in close proximity can yield novel reaction mechanisms. This suggests that the synergistic effect from interactions between Cu and CNS presents a novel strategy for designing highly selective electrocatalysts.

This is an exciting idea.

>>8421637
Free air beer for everyone!

>>8421739
What if you just pumped normal compressed air into the system for the CO2?
Would that do the same thing?

>>8421739
Well, on 2, that's purer than most sources of Ethanol start out as, and for 3, there's already carbon capture systems as pollution filters.

I suspect there's a 4 however, the cost of mass producing this stuff - usually the fatal bit in anything "nano".

>CO2 -> Ethanol

So instead of global warming we'll have a world full of drunks

>I'm ok with this.jpg

>burn coal
>get booze

finally

>>8421655
why would lobyists kill it
they just need to give it to the right lobyists

imagine,coal lobyist would winn all arguments with enviologists
because theire coalplants would produce ethanol instead of greenhousegas.

>>8421637
I would imagine the Russians would go crazy over this.
>As if Boris the Chemist needed an excuse to get drunk