Comments on: More Efficient Than Natural Photosynthesis – New Photocatalytic System Converts Carbon Dioxide Into Valuable Fuel

By: Peter Steier

Peter Steier — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 20:19:31 +0000

The CO2 goes in, and CH4 goes out. Water takes up CO2 easily, while CH4 (methane) is barely soluble. This needs no energy, but maybe for bubbling CO2 (or air) through. There is no need to convert CH4 to synthetic fuel, because this the same stuff as “natural gas”. Plenty of it are used for domestic heating, and by the industry. When combusted, it ends up as CO2 again. No additional CO2 produced. A part of the energy from the sun can be needed for the synthesis of the catalysts.

By: Clyde Spencer

Clyde Spencer — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 20:45:35 +0000

In reply to Bryan H. As it is, it will require energy to circulate air past the synthetic chloroplasts, which isn't free. Extracting CO2 from water will probably require even more energy. One can heat water to drive off CO2, but calcium carbonate is less soluble in warm water, causing it to precipitate out. One then has the problem of what to do with precipitated carbonate. Trucking it off and burying it requires energy. Meanwhile, the original water will be warmer than it was and have a higher pH. If it is dumped back in the ocean what will happen to the ecosystem it came from? It seems the people most accepting of the paradigm of anthropogenic-caused global warming, and supportive of carbon neutrality, are the least knowledgeable of Earth science.

By: Bryan H

Bryan H — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 01:56:29 +0000

If this can be scaled up to draw massive amounts of CO2 from the oceans, and if the resulting methane can then be processed into synthetic fuel, it would be a good way to reach carbon neutrality. I have my doubts, however, that such a large scale endeavor will ever find enough political will to get any traction.

By: Clyde Spencer

Clyde Spencer — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 22:02:10 +0000

One should look at the entire system when calculating efficiency. The artificial chloroplasts have to be created with energy, probably put into special greenhouses that require energy to be manufactured, and periodically maintained/repaired.

Plants, on the other hand, will naturally reproduce, repair minor damage, and use free air and sunlight to produce cellulose and sugars.

I think that a better approach might be to do gene modification to produce plants that are more efficient at doing what they do naturally.

By: Homer10

Homer10 — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 03:58:36 +0000

Kind of a little upside down and backwards. How about “Don’t burn it in the first place?”. Then you don’t have to worry about cleaning it up.

By: Frosted Flake

Frosted Flake — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 02:59:59 +0000

Great. A new way to transform a greenhouse gas into a much more effective greenhouse gas.