https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/carbon-capture-coal-electrolysis-rmit-university-melbourne-dorna-esrafilzadeh-a8798031.html

"Scientists have managed to turn CO2 from a gas back into solid “coal”, in a breakthrough which could potentially help remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

The research team led by RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, developed a new technique using a liquid metal electrolysis method which efficiently converts CO2 from a gas into solid particles of carbon.

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the authors say their technology offers an alternative pathway for “safely and permanently” removing CO2 from the atmosphere.

Current carbon capture techniques involve turning the gas into a liquid and injecting it underground, but its use is not widespread due to issues around economic viability, and environmental concerns about leaks from the storage site.

The new technique results in solid flakes of carbon, similar to coal, which may be easier to store safely.

The carbon dioxide is dissolved in a beaker filled with an electrolyte liquid along with a small amount of the liquid metal, which is then charged with an electrical current.

The CO2 slowly converts into solid flakes, which are naturally detached from the liquid metal surface, allowing for continuous production.

RMIT researcher Dr Torben Daeneke said: “While we can't literally turn back time, turning carbon dioxide back into coal and burying it back in the ground is a bit like rewinding the emissions clock.”

“To date, CO2 has only been converted into a solid at extremely high temperatures, making it industrially unviable.

“By using liquid metals as a catalyst, we've shown it's possible to turn the gas back into carbon at room temperature, in a process that's efficient and scalable.

"While more research needs to be done, it's a crucial first step to delivering solid storage of carbon."

Lead author, Dr Dorna Esrafilzadeh said the carbon produced by the technique could also be used as an electrode.

“A side benefit of the process is that the carbon can hold electrical charge, becoming a supercapacitor, so it could potentially be used as a component in future vehicles,” she said.

“The process also produces synthetic fuel as a by-product, which could also have industrial applications.”"

Cool.  If true.

BULLSHIT^TM

Coal is not carbon, it is fossilized plant matter.  They did not make fossilized plant matter, they made a carbon deposit.  That is not coal.

Also from what I know about the second law of thermodynamics and the energy of the solid state... this process may have taken more energy than burning the coal would release.

Taking the oxygen off of CO2_(g) to make C_(s) is energy intensive.

There's always a catch.

Cost is no object. Roll it into the Green New Deal and bump the cost up a few trillion.

For the chirren.

Like fusion, it probably takes 100MW to make 1MW worth of coal.

How much energy is this process going to consume?

So they made a potential fuel for space?

"Similar to coal"

jeez, lay off the coffee

So unlimited supply of coal then?  Fire up the coal plants, times are good?

tanstaafl

Plant life thrives where there is an abundance of Co2. Just sayin'.

If its god for energy and the economy the Democrats will fucking hate it and ban it.

Now if we are talking stabbing babbies...

I'm curious how much carbon is produced in the production, distribution and cleansing/ renewal of the solution, and the catalysts.....

I'm guessing it causes more pollution that it fixes.. just a guess. Like solar power. If you consider the total supply and storage chain, it's net negative energy producer.

I can turn c02 into coal by watering a plant and waiting.  Or just waiting for it to rain.

This is one of my daydreams.

big generators the size of city blocks sucking co2 out of the air and turning it into carbon sand and dumping it into the sea to reclaim sea and make new land.

1) shuts the enviro wackies up
2) creates diamonds that destroy the diamond scam forever
3) reclaims sea and creates new land
4) jobs
5) maybe it actually helps the environment

let's burn the newly created coal again!

Probably VERY energy intensive.

But, it is a step in an interesting direction. Maybe one day we will have a breakthrough that makes fossil fuels renewable.

Thermodynamics... How do it works?

better yet...

burn one ton of coal to produce the energy to reclaim .175 tons of c02.

because envormnnent golbal warm feels.

Lots of energy sources that could be used. Build a solar powered plant in certain parts of the Southwest and the energy costs are trivial. Electrical distribution costs are more of a problem than generation.

Trees and other life forms that contain chlorophyll have been doing that for billions of years.  They're quite good at it.

Plant something. Grow something.  It helps.  It really does.

Then you have to factor in the energy cost of creating the energy source to make this possible.

And they release O₂ (oxygen) which surprisingly we and other animals need.

We dont take kindly to none of the hippie talk round these parts.

Global warmer taken care of

Fake News.  Fake News Everywhere.

Carbon flakes are not coal.

More fucking fake news.

Give me a few million dollars in research funds and I'll build a prototype for a solar powered CO2 scrubber that only needs water and some "special" "organic" compounds.  

Might be useful in outer space or on Mars, if not on Earth.

Combustion of C with O2 into CO2 creates energy.
It takes at least as much energy as was released in the original combustion in order to turn CO2 back into C and O2.
Where is that energy gonna come from? Unicorn farts?

So build some giant ass nuke plants somewhere geologically stable and industrialize the process, all while telling the econazis to fuck a cactus because shit is solved

This needs to be regulated before they cool the earth too much!!!!!!!  

Step 1, plant trees.
Step 2, cut down trees and convert them to charcoal
Step 3 bury the charcoal.

Based on the description of how it works, I don't think it uses much electrical power.  Guessing solar panels charging batteries could provide all of DC electricity needed to do it.  Sounds like a winning strategy.

I wonder what allotrope of carbon is produced.

Yep, no need to mine any new coal at all. Just capture the emissions and turn it back into coal and then reburn it. All our energy problems are solved

Dude, I was thinking the same exact thing.

Electrochemical reaction with a metal catalyst and some electricity.  No combustin technology we use is 100% efficient.. most of that energy is wasted.  This would be much more efficient.

This is like comparing snowflakes to jet engines.

Helps to read the article: “By using liquid metals as a catalyst, we've shown it's possible to turn the gas back into carbon at room temperature, in a process that's efficient and scalable.

Yes, let’s remove all carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. What could possible go wrong. Also theres no free lunch, how much energy did it take to do this vs how much energy can you get from the carbon. Thermodynamics is really a thing.

You need to think that "reclaim the sea" through a little more.

Here is the actual paper for you to read.

The process outlined here uses cerium containing LMs that feature 2D interfacial cerium oxide to enable the room temperature continuous electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to solid carbon species at a very low onset potential (-1.2?V vs. Ag/Ag+; -310?mV vs. CO2/C). The solid carbonaceous materials are storable, enabling a negative CO2 emission technology when driven by renewable energy sources. Moreover, at higher applied potentials, CO was produced, which is a valuable precursor for a variety of industrial chemicals and synthetic fuels. The catalyst was remarkably resistant to deactivation via coking, due to the liquid state of the electrode, leading to limited van der Waals forces between the electrode and the carbonaceous product. The presence of metallic cerium nanoparticles within the alloy, above the solubility limit, was found to enhance the performance of the electrocatalysts significantly. Future works may utilise both electrode and electrolyte design to increase the activity of the catalyst further. Optimising the process will likely also improve the selectivity of the catalyst. Moreover, for the final application, nanodroplets and ultrathin LM films would be likely used to enhance surface area. Considering the short supply of some of the metals, such as In, the usage of higher melting Ga–Ce-based alloys, which only contain relatively abundant elements, may be considered for future works, provided that catalysis is conducted above the melting point of the alloy.

Overall, the findings are expected to lead to substantial future works, inspiring innovative LM-based catalyst designs for a variety of industrial processes, while also enabling selective and high-performance reaction designs that may take full advantage of the liquid state of metallic electrodes.

Is photosynthesis no longer an accepted process?  It must not be, with all the money hole funding on things like this and CO2 sequestration.

Why all the trouble for one of the weakest greenhouse gases?

In the case of CO2 sequestration, have they ever considered what will replace the O2 that is now being pumped miles below ground?

The herd really needs to be thinned.  Not because of CO2 output necessarily, but because of colossal stupidity

We captured 1 Megaton of CO2, and generated 5 Megatons of CO2 in the process.  Hooray!

Our technology is available for licensing. How much you ask?  How much would you pay to save the planet?

Nature has been taking care of excess CO2 for eons.

^^^ The right answer.

There is no free lunch.

Cool. Power is no issue, just build hybrid nuke/coal plants and use the excess / off-peak power production from the nuke side to help their coal buddies next door out. Problem solved.

Saw a thing just yesterday where genetic mods to the photosynthesis cycle increased plant growth efficiency by like 50%

Carbon-based fuel will always be more efficient than batteries in an O2 rich environment; use this new process to generate dense, safe fuel with solar/nuke power and fold it into our existing energy economy.  Far and away the best solution.

How much energy does it take?

"Aahhh, beach fire!"

Global warming scammers, make me act like a jerk!