Nanotechnology and Carbon Capture Can Yield an Endless Supply of Fuel and Chemicals

A finding by a Novel Prize Laureate has the potential of providing our ever increasing energy needs and lessening atmospheric CO2 at the same time. While all the Obama administration has are useless ideas that involve heavy taxation and control of our energy economy, these scientists are looking for real solutions, and yes, they have a profit motive for doing so. Nothing wrong with that.

Excerpt: The chemistry to mitigate or eliminate the carbon footprint of human activities and provide “a permanent inexhaustible supply of carbon containing fuels or products, which subsequently can be combusted or used without increasing the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere" has been developed by University of Southern California Professor George A. Olah and Professor G.K. Surya Prakash and is detailed in U.S. Patent Application 20090285739. Their discoveries could even lead to a reduction of carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. Olah is the 1994 Nobel Prize Laureate in chemistry

Through carbon capture and chemical conversions enabled by nanomaterials, the current lifestyles that rely extensively on conventional carbon containing fuels and products can continue indefinitely without harming the environment while preserving and even improving the earth's atmosphere for the benefit of future generations.

This method includes an initial step of capturing carbon dioxide and then chemically recycling it to form carbon containing fuels and products. The discoveries by Olah and Prakas offer a feasible way to mitigate the carbon footprint caused by human activities while not limiting or prohibiting the use of carbon containing fuels for transportation, electricity generation and a variety of derived chemicals and products. The reduction in atmospheric CO2 is achieved by preparing such fuels and related carbon containing products from carbon dioxide that is captured from industrial sources or by the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

By capturing and chemically recycling CO2 emissions, a neutral or in some cases a negative carbon footprint is achieved. This is feasible through the use of nanomaterials which enable the capture and concentration of industrial and natural CO2 sources and their conversion into methanol which can then be converted into other chemicals and plastic products now derived from petroleum and natural gas sources. Read article here.