Coalblog: Scientists Accidentally Turned CO2 Into Ethanol

(October 21, 2016) — In a new twist for waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol. 

"We discovered somewhat by accident that this material worked," said ORNL’s Adam Rondinone, lead author of the team’s study. "We were trying to study the first step of a proposed reaction when we realized that the catalyst was doing the entire reaction on its own."

"We’re taking carbon dioxide, a waste product of combustion, and we’re pushing that combustion reaction backwards with very high selectivity to a useful fuel," Rondinone said. "Ethanol was a surprise -- it’s extremely difficult to go straight from carbon dioxide to ethanol with a single catalyst."
 
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