Amidst growing concerns about the climate change problem caused by an excessive accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, researchers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, may have discovered a partial solution. In early October, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a Department of Energy lab, announced that an experiment originally meant to convert carbon dioxide into methanol produced exciting and unexpected results. The research team accidentally discovered a way to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol.
In September of this year, scientists at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii reported that the global average of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere had reached 400 parts per million (ppm) – a historical landmark because it was during the time of year when levels are typically at their lowest. Concerns surrounding the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, are what led to the ORNL study. Researchers originally thought that converting carbon dioxide to methanol would be a long and complicated process. Which is why they were surprised to find they had actually converted carbon dioxide into ethanol. Lead author of the study, Adam Rondinone, stated that they “were trying to study the first step of a proposed reaction when we realized the catalyst was doing the entire reaction on its own,” according to the official ORNL press release.
ORNL researchers also anticipated the potential cost of converting carbon dioxide to ethanol, which is why they wanted to conduct the experiment at room temperature in water, using cheaper materials like copper. Researchers used nanotechnology to create carbon spikes that are only a few atoms thick, then embedded them with nanoparticles of copper. Then researchers applied electricity to the carbon spikes which reacted with the carbon dioxide dissolved in water to make ethanol. In the ORNL press release, Rondinone stated that they are “taking carbon dioxide, a waste product of combustion, and we’re pushing that combustion reaction backwards.”
The carbon dioxide to ethanol reaction could be part of a solution to society’s overgrown dependence on fossil fuels. If the reaction can be brought up to scale, using a different means of power to generate the reaction, the implications could be even more groundbreaking. Blackburn chemistry professor Jim Pickett agreed, “It would be a good way to take out the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-burning plants,” and also noted, “With as much carbon dioxide as there is to use up, you could quit using corn [to produce ethanol]… the question is, how much ethanol do you need?”