Industrial carbon dioxide can be converted into solid carbon materials

    Last month, chemist Stuart Licht and his colleagues at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., reported in Nano Express that they had developed a solar reactor technology that converts carbon dioxide from the air into solid carbon nanofibers. The researchers found that when they added trace amounts of metals such as nickel, copper, cobalt, or iron to the cells, the metals formed small islands at the cathode, which then acted as landing sites for thousands of landing sites, separating and inserting carbon atoms into their respective locations, rapidly growing into long, thin fibers.

    Licht’s team previously called the solid carbon material they prepared from carbon dioxide amorphous carbon, which is worth $1,000 per ton. Carbon nanofibers are worth even more, at $25,000 per ton, due to the fact that they can be used in a wide range of lightweight, high-strength composites for use in things like automobile bumpers and aircraft components. “We are developing a medium to high value-added commodity and want to use this technology to prepare power materials.” Licht said.

    There are others pursuing the same strategy. A small New Jersey company called Liquid Light is developing commercialized technology to convert carbon dioxide into ethylene glycol, a chemical commodity with a $27 billion-a-year market. Another company called Skyonic recently set up a demonstration plant in Texas to convert carbon dioxide into baking soda, hydrochloric acid and bleach.

  These commodities can’t reach the same scale of application as gasoline and other transportation fuels, so using them to pull carbon dioxide out of the air through smokestacks won’t have a considerable impact on the amount of carbon dioxide in the global atmosphere, noted Matthew Kanan, a chemist at Stanford University in Palo Alto. The World Health Organization is working to turn carbon dioxide into plastics or other high-value-added commodities. “We could also use it as a springboard. With time and experience in research, companies can find new ways to improve production processes, reduce costs, and start preparing compounds such as high-volume, low-cost fuels. I am very excited about this.” Kanan said.