Carbon Dioxide-to-Anything. Please!

Scientists at Singapore’s Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have come up with a novel approach of converting Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into methanol (a valuable biofuel). Their low-temperature, low-energy conversion process is just one of many that are racing towards the same goal: turning one of the earth’s most abundantly harmful and widely available substances into a saleable product. Other notable groups working on converting CO2 into something useful are:

-    Calera, a stealthy Khosla Ventures company (no one has any idea what they are doing) that has attracted a lot of press in this space.

-     Novomer, a Cornell University spinoff, which creates “plastics from pollution”. They are using CO2 as a major ingredient in manufacturing biodegradable plastics. Upon further inspection, I realized that although the plastics initially serve as a Carbon sink, once biodegraded, the CO2 is re-emitted into the atmosphere – not the permanent fix the world really needs. Hopefully they are working to resolve this major red flag.

-    Los Alamos National Labs ((LANL), along with the Albany Research Center, have been working on converting CO2 into solid rock (Calcium Carbonate) for use as an additive in cement. This would be a goldmine if they could somehow figure out how to reduce the cost and time associated with CO2 mineralization. Imagine taking CO2 and using it to build roads and buildings – it would be a dream if they could  tackle these issues.

-    TecEco, similarly to LANL, claims to have invented a “Eco-Cement” that solidifies by absorbing and locking in CO2 from the atmosphere – yet they haven’t commercialized and have been working on this for many many years now.

-    UOP is also working on converting CO2 into methanol. Same goes for University of Southern California.

As you can see, this is a hot topic and I’m sure there are many more working on possible solutions. My hope is that this new work in Singapore could bring us one step closer. They seem to have surpassed one of the biggest hurdles – reducing the time it takes to actually complete the conversion process. This has been a major drawback in commercializing many CO2 conversion technologies. The person who can effectively and economically convert the world’s most harmful pollutant into a saleable product will strike gold. Let the race begin…..