VATIS UPDATE Article

Chemists from the University of Southern California (USC), the United States, have claimed that carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed from the atmosphere can be converted into methanol, which offers two major benefits. First, it reduces the concentration of harmful CO2 in the atmosphere. Second, it aids in the use of methanol as a substitute fuel. In the study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers were interested in coming up with ways to recycle CO2 into things that can be useful and reduce its effects on the environment.

They found that the by-product of the process, methanol, is useful as alternative fuel and as hydrogen storage. The group was led by G. K. Surya Prakash, at the USC. It also involved George A. Olah, at USC. “Direct CO2 capture and conversion to methanol using molecular hydrogen in the same pot was never achieved before. We have now done it!” said Prakash. The researchers reiterated that the key factor in producing methanol directly from CO2 is using a stable homogeneous catalyst, which will speed up the chemical process.

Unfortunately, most catalysts decompose when exposed to heat. The stable and good catalyst that they have developed was based on ruthenium, which is a kind of metal that does not decompose and can withstand extreme high temperatures. The new catalyst paved way to about 79 percent of the CO2 captured from the atmosphere being converted into methanol. With the success of the study, the researchers hope that their work will soon contribute to a “methanol economy,” in which energy storage and fuel are based on methanol.