Smart Wind Turbines Can Predict the Wind
Posted on Monday, January 4, 2010 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:20 PM
Risø DTU has recently completed the world's first successful test on a
wind turbine with a laser-based anemometer built into the spinner in order to increase electricity generation.The results show that the system called wind LIDAR can predict wind direction, gusts of wind and turbulence.
It is expected that the technology can increase energy production by up to 5%, primarily because it is possible to use longer blades. For a 4 MW wind turbine, this means a financial gain of 200,000 Danish kroner a year. Compared to the Danish Energy Agency's predictions, this technology could cut CO2 emissions by 25,000 tons by 2025, if every 10th turbine is equipped with a wind LIDAR. At the same time, the technology can be combined with "smart blades" and thereby increase longevity.
Labels: co2, electricity, energy, inventions, wind
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UCLA Researchers Produce Liquid Fuel Isobutanol
Posted on Monday, December 14, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:08 PM
In California, researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have genetically modified cyanobacteria to produce the liquid fuel
isobutanol directly from carbon dioxide and sunlight.
The announcement mirrors a breakthrough by Joule Biotechnolgies, which announced last month it had produced, in its lab, diesel-equivalent fuels from sunlight and CO2.
The technical approach: using
Synechoccus elongatus (a cyanobacterium) the team first genetically increased the quantity of the CO2-fixing enzyme RuBisCO. Then they spliced genes from other microorganisms to engineer a strain that intakes carbon dioxide and sunlight and produces isobutyraldehyde gas. The low boiling point and high vapor pressure of the gas allows it to easily be stripped from the system.
According to the researchers, the
engineered bacteria can produce isobutanol directly, but researchers say it is currently easier to use an existing and relatively inexpensive chemical catalysis process to convert isobutyraldehyde gas to isobutanol, as well as other useful petroleum-based products.
The team said that a project, using the technology, could be placed next to power plants and convert CO2 into transportation fuels. The team said that they are working on improving the rate and yield of the production, addressing the efficiency of light distribution and reducing bioreactor costs.” The group reported their results in the current issue of Nature.
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New Bioplastic Material Absorbs Carbon Dioxide
Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 7:34 PM
Myriant Technologies LLC has just won U.S. Department of Energy funding of up to $50 million to construct a new plant that will produce Succinic Acid from sorghum, using a biobased process that is more energy efficient than conventional methods, and also absorbs more
carbon dioxide than it produces.
Until now, petroleum has been the feedstock of choice to manufacture Succinic Acid. If commercially successful, a more sustainable biobased process like Myriant’s could have a significant impact on global greenhouse gas emissions, because Succinic Acid is used in a fantastic variety of materials from non-toxic diesel fuel additives, pharmaceuticals and food to
plastic car parts, computer casings, and shoe soles.
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Synthetic Enzyme to Help Capture CO2 from Coal Plant Emissions
Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 3:22 AM
New Jersey-based
Carbozyme is taking help from the human blood to develop a system to
capture CO2 from mixed gas emissions for later sequestration.
An enzyme in our blood captures about two pounds of CO2 every day and converts it into bicarbonate for easier transportation to the lungs. The same enzyme then works in reverse and converts bicarbonate into CO2 gas that we exhale. Carbozyme is trying to develop a synthetic enzyme that does the same but at a much larger scale.
The idea is to coat porous tubes with the synthetic version of the enzyme and let it capture CO2 from smokestack gases as they pass through the tubes. Based on lab tests, the system should use about a third less energy than other methods, while avoiding the hazardous chemicals typically used for the same process.
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POSCO Aims to Halt CO2 via Hydrogen Steelmaking
Posted on Monday, December 7, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 4:48 AM
South Korea's POSCO (005490.KS) plans to eventually
halt carbon emissions by switching to a hydrogen-based steelmaking process from 2021, company officials said.
Currently, iron ore is melted in a furnace using super-heated air from burning coal. In addition to this fuel role, coal is also used as a critical component in steel production because the carbon from burning coal captures oxygen from the molten iron ore, emitting carbon dioxide in the process.
POSCO hopes to switch from carbon to hydrogen gas to capture oxygen, a step that results in water produced as a byproduct instead of planet-warming carbon dioxide.
POSCO officials said the steelmaker is considering supplying hydrogen gas from its "SMART" nuclear reactors. It is looking at participating in a consortium for developing small or medium-sized nuclear reactors.
The steelmaker, however, has not yet decided which energy resources they will use instead of coal as fuel to heat the furnace.
Under the mid-term plan through 2020, the steelmaker will introduce breakthrough new process technology for carbon dioxide reduction.
In addition to steelmaking process changes, POSCO is looking for new business opportunities in low-carbon green growth areas, for instance, stationary fuel cells and synthetic natural gas.
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DOE Funds Innovative Energy Research Projects
Posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 2:32 AM
Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy ("ARPA-E") selects 37 projects to pursue breakthroughs that could fundamentally change the way we use and produce energy.
Some of the innovative projects selected for awards include:
- Liquid Metal Grid-Scale Batteries: Created by Professor Don Sadoway, a leading MIT battery scientist, the all-liquid metal battery is based on low cost, domestically available liquid metals with potential to break through the cost barrier required for mass adoption of large scale energy storage as part of the nation's energy grid. If successful, this battery technology could revolutionize the way electricity is used and produced on the grid, enabling round-the-clock power from America's wind and solar power resources, increasing the stability of the grid, and making blackouts a thing of the past. And if deployed at homes, it could allow individual consumers the ability to be part of a future "smart energy Internet," where they would have much greater control over their energy usage and delivery.
- Bacteria for Producing Direct Solar Hydrocarbon Biofuels: Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a bioreactor that has the potential to produce a flow of gasoline directly from sunlight and CO2 using a symbiotic system of two organisms. First, a photosynthetic organism directly captures solar radiation and uses it to convert carbon dioxide to sugars. In the same area, another organism converts the sugars to gasoline and diesel transportation fuels. This development has the potential to greatly increase domestic production of clean fuel for our vehicles and end our reliance on foreign oil.
- CO2 Capture using Artificial Enzymes: The funding will support an effort by the United Technologies Research Center to develop new synthetic enzymes that could make it easier and more affordable to capture carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and factories. If successful, the effort would mean a much lower energy requirement for industrial carbon capture and significantly lower capital costs to get carbon capture systems up and running. Success of this project could substantially lower the cost of carbon capture relative to current, state-of-the-art amine and ammonia based processes. This would represent a major breakthrough that could make it affordable to capture the carbon dioxide emissions from coal and natural gas power plants around the world.
- Low Cost Crystals for LED Lighting: Developed by Momentive Performance Materials, this proposal for novel crystal growth technology could dramatically lower the cost of developing light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are 30 times more efficient than incandescent bulbs and four times more efficient than compact fluorescents. This higher quality, low-cost material would offer significant breakthroughs in lowering costs of finished LED lighting, accelerating mass market use, and dramatically decreasing U.S. lighting energy usage. Lighting accounts for 14 percent of U.S. electricity use.
Labels: co2, energy, renewable, research, solar, wind
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High Efficient Industrial Carbon Capture Technology
Posted on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 2:34 AM
Industrial Research Ltd (IRL) has made a breakthrough that enables the world’s most efficient carbon dioxide capture technology to become commercially viable. IRL Research Scientist Robert Holt is leading the multi-disciplinary team that is investigating the development of a cost-effective enhancement to an existing technique that uses limestone for the capture of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel power combustors. IRL has been awarded $350,000 over three years by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology to further develop its technology.
The process is designed to
capture carbon dioxide from coal fired power stations and other industries that emit significant amounts of the greenhouse gas.
The lime cycling process uses limestone, a relatively abundant and inexpensive material. It is heated to around 900 degrees centigrade to become lime, which is a very effective material for absorbing carbon dioxide.
When post-combustion flue gas is passed through the lime in a fluidised bed, the CO2 is captured. The process is then reversed to transform the lime back into limestone, which is then used again to capture more CO2.
The 95 per cent pure CO2 that is produced can be compressed to about 3% of its original volume and can then be stored efficiently or used in another industrial process. This process has been known for many years but until now it has not been efficient enough to be considered commercially applicable.The IRL team confirmed that exposing the lime to steam reopens its pore structure and enables it to absorb CO2 efficiently again.
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90% of Coal Plant CO2 Captured in 12-Month Test
Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 12:46 AM
One year ago the French company Alstom began a year-long US test of
capturing CO2 from the water+carbon-dioxide mix created using their chilled-ammonia technology, in the smokestack of the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant in Wisconsin.
Last week the year’s results were announced. The years average
CO2 capture rate was 90%, according to a joint announcement from the EPRI, We Energies and Alstom to the Society of Environmental Journalists.
The 12-month test was just completed after running 24 hours a day on a small sectioned-off portion of the smokestack; working on just 5% of the plants total emissions.
But the test is scalable, and the Electric Power Research Institute, the R&D arm of the utility industry, is optimistic that chilled-ammonia technology will work on a larger scale. It is one of several carbon-capture technologies under consideration as we move to a carbon constrained world.
Next, Alstom will work with AEP in Columbus, Ohio to test a scaled-up version of the technology at the Mountaineer power plant in West Virginia. That test takes the next step as well; not just capturing the carbon dioxide but burying it 8,000 feet beneath the plant site.
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Nanotechnology Could Reduce Costs of Cellulosic Ethanol?
Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 12:26 AM
Cellulosic ethanol is an exciting technology which promises to convert the abundant sources of organic
waste worldwide (kitchen waste, yard waste, paper industry waste, etc.) into green alternative fuel.
The traditioinal production process of
cellulosic ethanol involves breaking down the cellulose into smaller units (hydrolysis reaction) on pretreated lignocellulosic materials followed by fermentation and distillation.The hydrolysis can be achived by using either acids or enzymes to breakdown the pretreated cellulosic biomass.The process of using enzymes for hydrolysis has been more expensive than the other approach, as the enzymes cost a lot of money, and typically a significant portion are lost during the cellulose degradation.
Researchers from the Louisiana Tech University have developed a way of immobilizing the enzymes, greatly reducing enzyme loss and its corresponding costs. Details on the new approach are scant other than that it uses "nanotechnology", but it seems likely that it employs some sort of charged particles to affix the non-catalytic domains of enzymes to reactor walls or a porous network, or else uses extracellular matrix proteins to bind the enzymes.
The university estimates that a commercial plant would save approximately $32M USD (they did not specify if this was a yearly total or perhaps over the plant's lifetime) and that under the federally established goal to reach 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol, the net saving could be $7.5B USD, if the goal was reached. LTU also notes that they estimate cellulosic ethanol to reduce carbon emissions by 89 percent over traditional fuels.
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‘Bacteria batteries’ For Energy Storage
Posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 2:26 AM
Scientists at Pennsylvania State University are pioneering a method whereby electrical energy is stored as methane, which can then be burned to release power when it’s needed. The system’s active ‘ingredients’ are a combination of tiny microbes and CO2. Placed under an electrical current – for example from an off-grid renewable power source such as
wind or solar – the microbes convert the CO2 into methane. Professor Bruce Logan, head of the research team, explains that they work in a similar way to the natural process found in marshes.
The initial carbon dioxide needed for the chemical reaction could even come from industrial sources: “CO2 is soluble in water, so the gas stream could be bubbled or transferred” in pipes from factories, for example. The ‘battery’ is designed to work as a closed loop, capturing and reusing the CO2 that’s released when the methane is burned. The energy conversion is about 80%, Logan claims, but admits that “a lot more research into scaling up these systems is needed” before commercial viability could be assessed.
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CMU Startup Harnessing Human Body 'Biopower'
Posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 3:35 AM
Bio-Nano Power, at tenant at Central Michigan University Research Corp.'s business accelerator has developed a prodess to harness the power that’s available right in a
human body.Nathan Long at Bio-Nano Power filed a comprehensive patent, “Bio-Nano Power Cells and Their Uses,” which ties together more than two years of intense biotechnology and nanotechnology research to develop power cells that generate efficient, high density power and emit lower CO2 pollutants.
According to Long, the body is full of bio-fuels that can be converted to electrical energy to run devices inside the body, or to be recreated outside for virtually any power-related need. The patented process he has developed and tested combines the strength of advanced biotechnology with honed nanotechnology techniques in a new and different way.
Long’s patented process creates that “team” of enzyme catalyst polymers that efficiently produce power when activated by common bio-fuels.Long’s vision for Bio-Nano Power is to focus on much needed medical device applications like smaller, faster biosensors for diabetes patients to monitor glucose levels or for clinicians to track and monitor heart conditions through self-powered devices.
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Biomimicry for Converting Co2 to Energy
Posted on Thursday, July 30, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:27 PM
Cambridge-based Joule Biotechnologies has designed a radical technology to mimic photosynthesis using bio-engineered micro-organisms to make ethanol fuel from
carbon dioxide and sunlight. Because of the abundance of these raw materials, Joule Biotechnologies should be able to make ethanol economically, sustainably and at stable prices.
Their device, called SolarConverter doesn’t require fresh water and agricultural land like traditional biofuel production . The converter contains a mixture of brackish water, nutrients, and genetically engineered organisms. Carbon dioxide gas is fed into the mixture, and the device is designed to expose the organisms in the mixture to the sun. The organisms are photosynthetic, meaning that they absorb light energy and carbon dioxide to form compounds. Joule has engineered its organisms to secrete ethanol and hydrocarbons and chemicals.
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Microbes Could Act as Carbon Dioxide Catchers?
Posted on Thursday, July 16, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:29 PM
The accidental discovery of a bowl-shaped molecule that pulls carbon dioxide out of the air suggests exciting new possibilities for dealing with
global warming, including genetically engineering microbes to manufacture those CO2 "catchers".
A scientist discovered these molecules while doing research unrelated to global climate change.J. A. Tossell, a scientist from Maryland, recognized that these qualities might make it useful as an industrial absorbent for
removing carbon dioxide. Tossell's new computer modeling studies found that the molecule might be well-suited for removing carbon dioxide directly from ambient air, in addition to its previously described potential use as an absorbent for
CO2 from electric power plant and other smokestacks.
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Solar-Powered Recharger from An Altoids Tin
Posted on Sunday, July 12, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 7:32 PM
Jerome Kelty’s USA, plan to save the planet involves a small solar panel, a USB plug, a battery and an empty Altoids tin.Kelty assembled these parts into his own gadget for charging his iPod Touch using the power of the sun.
Kelty got the idea for the
solar-powered charger from the Minty Boost, a $20 charger powered by two AA alkaline batteries. It’s called the Minty Boost because it is also housed in an Altoids breath mints tin. But it had its shortcomings.To improve upon the Minty Boost, Kelty replaced the AA batteries with a rechargeable lithium polymer battery and added a small solar panel. The solar panel recharges the internal battery, which in turn recharges the iPhone.
If everyone who owned the 30 million iPods and iPhones sold to date worldwide recharged their gadgets every day with solar power, instead of plugging into an outlet, 30 million pounds of carbon dioxide, the leading cause of global warming, would not be created.
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Artificial Trees: Capturing CO2 A Thousand Times Faster
Posted on Sunday, July 5, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:37 PM
Professor Klaus Lackner at Columbia University and also co-founder of Global Research Technologies (GRT) in Tucson, Arizona, USA, has put forward a device called "artificial tree" that
captures CO2 a thousand times faster than a real one. Artificial tree is a device that traps CO2 directly from the atmosphere using a process similar to sequestration at coal-fired power plants. The CO2 passes over a chemical absorber (the ‘leaves’ of the artificial tree) to which the CO2 molecule attaches.Professor Lackner estimates that each ‘tree’ with a capture area of 10m by 10m (32.8ft by 32.8ft) can absorb 1,000 tons each year.
Once you’ve captured the CO2 on the absorber you then have to provide energy to remove the CO2 molecule, compress it and liquefy it.The liquefied CO2 can then be stored underground or used for several different purposes.If the initial energy source is renewable then the process becomes almost CO2 neutral at the front end and a total success at sequestrating CO2 from the atmosphere.It seems that Lackner and GRT have found a sorbent material that requires low energy to remove the CO2 molecule and the end-to-end process is purported to be up to 80% efficient when considered in terms of how much CO2 is removed from the atmosphere versus how much is released by the energy production to operate the machine.
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ORegen : New Device for Capturing Waste Energy
Posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 1:22 AM
At GE’s Global Research Center near Munich, Germany, scientists have developed a new waste heat recovery technology called ORegen — which is a device that converts
waste heat from exhaust streams generated by equipment such as small gas turbines and industrial processes into usable electricity.This technology can help customers address the challenges of rising fuel costs and the increased demand for more efficient, environmentally friendly power systems and industrial plants.
They have modified
Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) - an old technology which can use lower heat input temperatures.Therefore, heat recovery now offers a great opportunity to conserve fuel by productively using waste energy to reduce overall plant energy consumption and simultaneously decrease CO2 emissions. For example, when an ORegen (Organic Regenerator) unit is joined to GE Oil & Gas’ PGT25 gas turbine, it can provide up to an additional 25 percent more power on top of the output of the turbine itself.
full article here
Labels: co2, electricity, energy, environment, technology, waste
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New Online Greenhouse Gas Calculator to Measure & Manage Vehicle Fleet Emissions
Posted on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 2:52 AM
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and
NAFA Fleet Management Association (NAFA) released a new online calculator for fleet managers to measure their greenhouse gas emissions as a first step in creating "greener" vehicle fleets.This tool that enables fleets to track their progress in reducing emissions over time.Recognizing that it is difficult to capture the complete data required by more advanced calculation methods, the Fleet Emissions Tool is designed to minimize data entry needs for fleets while retaining accuracy.
The Fleet Emissions Tool estimates total fleet
greenhouse gas emissions from fuel consumption data. This data is directly used to calculate emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), which accounts for about 95% of greenhouse gas from vehicles. Emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are estimated based on their prominence among greenhouse gas from transportation source.
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Green Technology Converts Waste Ash from Power Stations into Minerals
Posted on Thursday, May 14, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 12:15 AM
Two British scientists, John Watt and Philip Michael, have launched technology that will convert the controversial tonnes of waste-ash from Britain's coal-fired power stations into valuable minerals useful to industries including cement, car and aviation manufacturers.The first plant for
RockTron, which is now finished and on-line in Fiddlers Ferry coal-powered station in Cheshire, UK, will transform 800,000 tonnes of ash per year into five valuable minerals. It will also cut the cost of dumping the ash in land-fill sites.
The most significant of the so called eco-minerals are solid glass spheres called aluminio-silicates that could reduce CO2 emissions in cement making - one of the dirtiest processes - by an estimated 400,000 tonnes a year in Britain alone. Another by-product are hollow glass spheres that can be used by automotive and aviation industries to make lighter cars and planes.
see moreLabels: co2, costs, technology, waste
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'Green' Rice Could Help With Climate Change Fight ?
Posted on Sunday, May 3, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:30 PM
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' Rice Department's recent research has been aimed at developing rice varieties that emit less methane and carbon dioxide, the key gases contributing to global warming.The photosynthesis of the newly developed plants would emit fewer greenhouse gases. A study to develop other strains to reduce carbon dioxide during harvesting is also under way.
Mr Prasert, director general of the department said, if the research was successful, new rice strains would be offered to Thai farmers. They would produce plants with smaller phloems - the plants' food-conducting tissues.DNA data which is now used for improving new rice strains has shortened the process from 10 years to five or six years. However, a senior researcher at the Rice Department's Bureau of Rice Research and Development said, there was a shortage of new-generation researchers and his office now had only about 20 people working in the area.
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Burning Biomass to Generate Electricity
Posted on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:24 PM
Coconut husks and groundnut shells usually are an eyesore, but they can actually be used to light up your house. That too with limited pollution, promises biomass power generator AllGreen Energy India Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore-based AllGreen Energy Pte Ltd.
The projects will use Indian Institute of Science or IISc-patented biomass gasification technology to turn biomass into gases, which will then power Jenbacher engines—made by strategic partner GE Energy India—to produce electricity. AllGreen says the process will create only carbon dioxide and negligible particulate matter as pollutants.
The process works by converting solid biomass into a mixture of combustible gases through controlled pyrolysis, or decomposing matter at high temperatures. Once cooled and cleaned, the resulting fuel gas is used to generate electricity with the GE engine. The extra heat produced in the process is used to generate chilling capacity for the cold storage facility.
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Biodiesel Production from Legume Tree
Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:41 PM
The discovery of a hormone that controls how plants form branches and the use of a legume tree in biodiesel production are just two of the major scientific breakthroughs to come out of UQ's ARC Centre of Excellence in Integrative Legume Research (CILR) this year. The Centre, primarily through work at the UQ Node, achieved a number of successes in its biofuel program focussing on the legume tree Pongamia pinnata.In the case of carbon sequestration, the legume removes CO2 from the atmosphere and stores it in soil; nitrogen gain refers to the legume's ability to return nitrogen to the soil they grow in, acting like a fertiliser.
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Carbon Dioxide into Methanol - Green Method for Sequestration
Posted on Thursday, April 16, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 1:02 AM
Scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have succeeded in unlocking the potential of carbon dioxide – a common greenhouse gas – by converting it into a more useful product. Using organocatalysts, the IBN researchers activated carbon dioxide in a mild and non-toxic process to produce methanol, a widely used industrial feedstock and clean-burning biofuel.
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Bacteria Turns Excess Clean Energy Into Methane for Storage
Posted on Monday, April 6, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 1:55 AM
Scientists at Pennsylvania State University have discovered a solution to the problem of reliable storage for alternative energy: a bacteria that can convert electricity to methane when combined with CO2.Any surplus power from wind, solar, or tidal sources is fed into the bacteria and combined with CO2 from the atmosphere to create methane for storage. Methane is a clean-burning gas and 80% of energy fed into the process was retained at the end.Scientists note that using a bacteria instead of a high-cost catalyst is a promising development that could lead to the process’s implementation in just a few years.
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NOX Emissions Free Steam Engine
Posted on Friday, April 3, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 10:29 PM
Cyclone Power Technologies announced results of emission testing performed on its Mark II 18HP engine running on diesel fuel. The tests demonstrated that the company's award-winning, external combustion technology is dramatically cleaner than current internal combustion diesel engines.
Cyclone Engines, by comparison, do not require any costly, efficiency-draining exhaust after-treatment. One reason for this is the Cyclone Engine burns its fuel at approximately 2,000degF, whereas NOX forms at temperatures above 2,300degF - ranges typical for both diesel and gas-powered internal combustion engines. It is also important to note that the Cyclone Engine does not idle. When no power is required from the engine it shuts off, thus NOX readings at this time - as well as carbon particulate matter and carbon dioxide (CO2) readings - are zero.
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US Scientists Say Burning Ice Could Provide Green Fossil Fuel
Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:54 PM
US Scientists have revealed how natural gas locked up in frozen water crystals could provide massive amounts of energy, and claim that it could even be totally emissions-free. To the naked eye, clathrate hydrate (CH) looks like everyday ice but, as well as being partly made of water, the molecules are also organised into “cages”, which trap individual molecules of methane.Remarkably, a new method of extracting the methane and ’swapping’ it with carbon dioxide could turn the substance into a revolutionary carbon-neutral fossil fuel.
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New Catalysts Lower Fuel Consumption & Reduce Carbon Emissions
Posted on Thursday, March 26, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:13 PM
A new range of fuel catalysts has been launched in Australia which has the potential to reduce carbon emissions from all industries that use diesel, heavy fuel oil, coal and gas.The transport industry currently accounts for 13.7 per cent of Australia’s net total greenhouse gas emissions and emissions from electricity generation account for 34.4 per cent.
Launched by TK Fuels Ltd Australia, the catalysts, based on extensively researched fuel technology developed and currently in use throughout Europe, have been found to lower fuel consumption, improve engine performance and significantly reduce the pollution of unburnt fuel particles and other toxins from exhaust emissions.
Full article hereLabels: co2, engines, fuel
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Researchers Transform CO2 Emissions Using Electro-Reduction Carbon
Posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:07 PM
Two UBC researchers are responsible for a creating a technology that could change the way the world uses carbon dioxide emissions.Chemical and biological engineering professor Dr Colin Oloman and PhD graduate Dr Hui Li have invented a new technology that converts carbon dioxide into useable compounds for commercial use through electro-reduction technology.
Electro-Reduction Carbon (ERC) is an electrochemical process that converts carbon dioxide emissions directly from blast furnaces into formic acid. The compound is a liquid fuel that is used for many industrial processes, including a chemical intermediate in the manufacturing of various chemicals such as caffeine and artificial sweeteners, and in the cleaning of steel during manufacture. Formic acid is also a non-toxic, biodegradeable, reusable compound which yields oxygen as a by-product, which can be used to improve combustion in blast furnaces.
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Underground Rocks may Turn Carbondioxide into Harmless Chemical
Posted on Monday, March 9, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:34 PM
Geologists have mapped large rock formations in the US that can absorb carbon dioxide and potentially be harnessed to vastly accelerate the process.The report, by scientists at Columbia University's Earth Institute and the US Geological Survey, shows 15,000 square km of ultramafic rocks at or near the surface. Originating deep in the earth, these rocks contain minerals that react naturally with carbon dioxide to form solid minerals. Earth Institute scientists are experimenting with ways to speed this natural process, called mineral carbonation.If the technology takes off, geologic formations around the world could provide a vast sink for heat-trapping carbon dioxide released by humans.
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New Carbon Capture Technology
Posted on Sunday, March 8, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:30 PM
According to ION Engineering, until now the state-of-the-art in current emissions control technology was the inefficient, aqueous (water-based) amine technology, but a breakthrough has seen the company become the first to successfully integrate ionic liquid solutions into carbon capture and emissions control technology by replacing the water based solution with ionic liquids - molten salts that do not evaporate. The company says that while recent developments in carbon capture technology have brought costs of carbon capture down to $50 to $100 a ton, its ionic liquid technology could cut the costs of capturing carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants to as low as $20 a ton. This reduction is cost is mainly due to the fact that around 80% of the total cost of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) comes from the capture of CO2 – the very area that the company’s system focuses on.
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Ingeo(TM)- Bioplastic Reducing CO2 Emissions & Energy Consumption
Posted on Sunday, March 1, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:13 PM
NatureWorks LLC has achieved a manufacturing breakthrough with its Ingeo(TM) plastics made from plants, not oil. A new, proprietary manufacturing process commissioned late last year lowers CO2 emissions by 60 percent and reduces by 30 percent the energy required to produce Ingeo(TM) plastics compared to previous Ingeo(TM) production.
The emissions and energy reductions are even greater when Ingeo(TM) bioresin is compared to petroleum-based plastics. For example, the process of manufacturing PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the polymer most commonly used to make water and soda bottles and the mainstay of the synthetic fibers industry, emits 3.4 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of resin produced. By contrast, the new Ingeo(TM) manufacturing process emits 77 percent less, with 0.75 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of resin. The new Ingeo(TM) production technology also consumes 56 percent less energy than the equivalent weight of PET.
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CO2-to-Fuel : New Technology From Carbon Sciences
Posted on Friday, February 27, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:20 PM
A handful of companies and scientists are finding ways to recycle CO2 and turn it back into gasoline and other transportation fuels.Carbon Sciences is furthest along in the CO2-to-fuels quest.In June, company chief technology officer Naveed Aslam figured out a way to break down CO2 at low temperature and pressure. His secret? Biocatalysts.
Although catalysts, such as enzymes and bacteria, can split CO2, they're very expensive, and typically must be replaced after every reaction. Aslam invented a polymer shell that protects them so they can be recycled. The same technology can extract hydrogen from water, avoiding the need for energy-intensive hydrolysis. The carbon and hydrogen are joined to form methanol, which can be refined into gasoline or jet fuel.
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Solar Nanotube - Making Fuel From CO2
Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:28 PM
Developments in Nanotechnology continue apace, and a new invention using nanotubes promises an eco-friendly approach to both consume CO2 and produce useful fuel as a bi-product.The device was created at Pennsylvania State University and it's an innovative development of existing tech that uses titanium dioxide nanoparticles and ultraviolet light to convert CO2.When a group of the nanotubes are exposed to sunlight, CO2 and water vapor, the solar energy converts the gasses into a mix of organic compounds like methane, ethane and propane. The process works at a rate as fast as 160 microliters an hour per gram of nanotubes, and that's twenty times faster than previous attempts to convert CO2 in this manner.
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Hybrid 4 Technology To Reduce CO2 emissions
Posted on Sunday, January 18, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:30 PM
First seen as a concept at last years Paris Motorshow – Prologue Hybrid 4 – Peugeot’s new 3008 cross-over vehicle can now be revealed in all its glory.Hybrid 4 Technology describes the hybridisation of a traditional engine with an electric motor, in an original layout in engineering terms that also allows the possibility of four wheel drive.
While the traditional engine is located as usual under the bonnet and drives the front wheels, the electric motor is located under the load area floor adjacent to the rear suspension. This technology not only represents a real breakthrough in terms of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions (a reduction of around 35%), but also in terms of four wheel drive.
This technology makes it possible to combine dynamic performance with respect for the environment, while at the same time maintaining the benefits of a spacious vehicle. Another important benefit is that there are no mechanical connections between the front diesel engine and the rear electric motor, everything is controlled electronically “by-wire”. This avoids any architectural constraints affecting the interior space and style of the passenger compartment.
The HYbrid 4 technology, which is still under development, was incorporated into the T84 programme from the very outset, since it is fully consistent with the approach adopted for the vehicle. In accordance with the announcement made at the Paris Motor show, the 3008 will be the Group’s first vehicle to be equipped with Hybrid 4 technology. The commercial launch of this four wheel drive hybrid cross-over is planned between now and 2011.
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Silencer for Genset Reduces Global Warming
Posted on Monday, January 12, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 10:06 PM
A person hailing from Bihar, India has invented a generator silencer which would not only be helpful in keeping the environment clean but would also help to deal with the problem of global warming.
Virendra Kumar Sinha, has inveneted the silencer cum exhaust filter for the generator set after a hard work of six years. Sinha said his product was put under test in three stages in the laboratory of Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Ranchi, where the lab technicians reached on the conclusion that the product was capable of reducing the harmful carbon-dioxide and carbon-monoxide gases to the extent of 60 to 70 per cent emitted by the genset.
After the lab test at BIT, the product also got patent for the innvotion on September 17, 2008 by Indian Patent Office, Kolkata. The invention would help in checking the global warming also, Sinha said adding that the exhaust silencer was capable of sucking the carbon gases inside its drum reducing the level of carbon emission into the environment to the level of 70 per cent.
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New green cement to cut out globe-warming CO2 emissions
Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 9:46 PM
A cement made of magnesium silicates in place of limestone can absorb, over its lifecycle, around 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of cement and cut out greenhouse gas emissions.
Making traditional cement results in greenhouse gas emissions from two sources: it requires intense heat, and so a lot of energy to heat up the ovens that cook the raw material, such as limestone.That then releases further carbon dioxide as it burns. But, until now, no one has found a large-scale way to tackle this fundamental problem.
The new cement, based on magnesium silicates, not only requires much less heating, it also absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide as it hardens, making it carbon negative. The new environmentally friendly formulation means the cement industry could change from being a “significant emitter to a significant absorber of CO2,” says Nikolaos Vlasopoulos, chief scientist at London-based Novacem, whose invention has garnered support and funding from industry and environmentalists.
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Petroleum Mixed with Wastewater Reduces Emissions by 84%
Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 9:11 AM
Taiwanese scientists discovered that a new fuel can be made by combining industrial wastewater and petroleum oil. The new fuel’s efficiency is increased by 14% and is a friendly way to treat industrial wastewater as well.
Scientists from National Cheng Kung University mixed HFO (heavy fuel oil) with wastewater and burnt them together. By mixing 80% of HFO with 19.9% wastewater and 0.1% surfactant, the CO emissions are reduced by 84% compared to the emissions generated by burning standard HFO in the same boiler. The new fuel also drastically reduces other emissions such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organics.
How does this improvement come about? By adding wastewater to the oil, micro explosions take place prior to the ignition of oil, causing it to atomize into a fine vapor. This leads to a complete and also to a lower temperature combustion reducing pollution from nitrogen oxides.
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Conversion of CO2 to fuel using Artificial Photosynthesis
Posted on Friday, January 9, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:22 PM
A research group led by Osamu Ishitani has created a new catalyst that could turn CO2 into fuel efficiently, with only the power of the sun.The new catalyst uses ruthenium and rhenium, two elements not found in your average leaf. But they do allow for the same first step (CO2 to CO) that plants use. In fact, it's considerably more efficient and simpler than the way plants do things.
The trick was using the Ru catalyst to absorb the light, which it does very efficiently in the visual light spectrum, but then using the Re catalyst to actually take the electron produced and knock one of the oxygens off of the CO2. The Re complex has a quantum efficiency of 0.62, which means it actually uses 62% of the electrons it gets from the Ru catalyst to reduce the CO2. This number is extremely high.
Now, the only problem is to make sure the catalyst is stable and doesn't degrade over time. If they can do that, then there won't be much between this research and a CO2 to fuel manufacturing plant.
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Carbon Sciences'technology to transform CO2 into gasoline and jet fuel
Posted on Monday, January 5, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:01 PM
Carbon Sciences Inc. , the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into gasoline and other fuels, announced today that representatives of oil refineries expressed a high level of interest in the company's technology at the ACI Downstream CO2 & Energy Efficiency Forum held December 3-5 in Istanbul, Turkey.
This breakthrough technology for transforming CO2 to hydrocarbons fits refineries' needs in today's environmentally conscious world. Instead of emitting hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere and face potential legal and economic penalties, oil refineries can use our technology to transform their CO2 streams directly into fuel building blocks. These building blocks can then be used in their existing refinery processes to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other portable fuels -- without using additional crude oil.
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Scots smart meter - weapon in fight to cut carbon emissions
Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:23 PM
A Scottish invention with the potential to revolutionise consumer energy conservation is set for further inroads into the mass market in 2009, according to energy and management consultant Accenture.
The "smart meter", the brainchild of Scots telecoms engineer Eric Beattie, was originally conceived as using communications equipment to interact with prepayment meters to allow customers to top-up their meter remotely. But,Smart meters currently undergoing consumer trials throughout the UK, are seen as a potentially revolutionary aid to carbon reduction, as they allow householders and businesses to monitor closely in real time how much energy they are currently consuming and at what cost.
As the energy industry faces up to ever-deeper cuts in carbon emissions over the coming decades, the installation of smart meters in customers' homes is becoming increasingly important because of its potential to change consumers' behaviour and reduce energy consumption.In Italy, around 24 million smart meters have already been installed, and France and the Nordic countries are also making "an announcement a month" on the continued roll-out.
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Ancient Charcoal- Brakes on Global Warming by sequestering carbon
Posted on Friday, January 2, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:25 PM
Biochar was first created and used thousands of years ago to help plants grow. Researchers have found that this charcoal-like substance traps carbon and is a renewable source of fuel. Nine countries are pouring research dollars into the charcoal-like substance to see if it can sequester carbon, improve the soil and produce biofuels all at once—on an economically competitive scale. Could this ancient fertilizer really put a dent on global warming?
Biochar is different from the dry charcoal that you'd burn in a grill: It is produced by heating plant waste to 400 to 500 degrees C in the absence of oxygen—a process known as low-temperature pyrolysis—which makes a substance that has a greater number of smaller pores than charcoal. (The better to trap carbon dioxide with.)
The process used to make biochar is a closed, sustainable one: Biomass is fed into the oxygen-free burners and turned into the char. The gases that are released during the reaction is then captured and converted into electricity (from combustible gases) or biofuel, while the remaining char is safe to throw directly into the soil. Biochar does the rest of the work underground. The substance improves the ground's composition and fertility by locking in water and nutrients, thereby reducing the need for fertilizers while boosting crop yields. It also stores the carbon from the plant materials that made it— around 50 percent of the carbon produced from converting biomass into biochar can be trapped—and traps even more carbon from decomposing plants in the soil.
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Tree Carbon Calculator-software to quantify CO2 capture of trees
Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 7:51 PM
U.S. Forest Service Scientists are providing online software that can show users how much carbon dioxide (CO2) an urban tree in California, US, has sequestered in its lifetime and the past year.
Known as ‘The Tree Carbon Calculator’, the software is free and programmed in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that provides carbon-related information for a single tree in one of six California climate zones.
It is the only tool approved by the California Climate Action Registry’s Urban Forest Project Reporting Protocol for quantifying carbon dioxide sequestration from tree planting projects.Users enter information such as a tree’s climate zone, species name, size or age. The program then estimates how much carbon dioxide the tree has sequestered in the past year and its lifetime. It also calculates the dry weight of the biomass that would be obtained if it were removed.
The Tree Carbon Calculator automatically calculates power plant reductions using emission factors for local utilities. Using the software, McPherson and his colleagues measured the size and growth of 5,000 trees in the six climate zones to determine how much carbon dioxide the trees sequestered and stored.
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Toyota Home-Use Fuel Cell Cogeneration Project
Posted on Thursday, June 19, 2008 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 10:54 AM
Toyota Motor Corp plans to provide, for the third year in a row, home-use fuel cell cogeneration units as part of a government project to verify the practical use of CO2-reducing stationary fuel cells.
The municipal-gas-fueled 1-kW home-use fuel cell cogeneration units—which generate electricity and capture waste heat for household heating—are to play a role in the continuing Large-Scale Stationary Fuel Cell Demonstration Project of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Twenty-four of the units will be provided to project participant Toho Gas Co., Ltd. (Toho), which will install them in homes in three central-Japan prefectures (Aichi, Gifu and Mie) to collect data toward commercialization. The government project, which was originally scheduled to conclude on March 31, 2008, is now expected to run until the end of March 2009.
Full report here - 
Home-Use Fuel Cell Cogeneration Project
Labels: co2, electricity, homes
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Toyota to Provide Home-use Fuel Cell Cogeneration Units
Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 1:40 AM
Toyota Motor Corp plans to provide, for the third year in a row, home-use fuel cell cogeneration units as part of a government project to verify the practical use of CO2-reducing stationary fuel cells.
The municipal-gas-fueled 1-kW home-use fuel cell cogeneration units—which generate electricity and capture waste heat for household heating—are to play a role in the continuing Large-Scale Stationary Fuel Cell Demonstration Project of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Twenty-four of the units will be provided to project participant Toho Gas Co., Ltd. (Toho), which will install them in homes in three central-Japan prefectures (Aichi, Gifu and Mie) to collect data toward commercialization. The government project, which was originally scheduled to conclude on March 31, 2008, is now expected to run until the end of March 2009.
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Home-Use Fuel Cell Cogeneration ProjectLabels: co2, electricity, fuel-cells
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HTC Purenergy Announces CO2 Capture Cost Reduction Breakthrough
Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 10:26 PM
HTC Purenergy announced a new CO2 Capture cost reduction breakthrough - the Thermal Kinetics Optimization process. TKO will be added to the existing base Purenergy CCS CO2 Capture System and will substantially reduce the energy requirements of capturing CO2 from post-combustion coal and natural gas power plants.
The TKO process improves the CO2 Capture System through heat recovery, thermal balancing and optimized process flow. The primary advantage of this newly patented system is that it directly reduces the largest single cost of CO2 capture - the use of power plant steam - to a ratio of below 1 unit steam required to 1 unit CO2 captured.
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CO2 Converted to Cyclic Carbonates, Cuts Greenhouse Gases
Posted on Saturday, May 3, 2008 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 12:01 AM
Breakthrough in battle to curb greenhouse gasesA team of scientists has developed a highly energy-efficient method of converting waste carbon dioxide into chemical compounds, marking a breakthrough in the fight to cut greenhouse gases. The team from Newcastle University estimates that the technology has the potential to use up to 48 million tonnes of waste carbon dioxide per year.
The method developed by the team led by Michael North, a professor of organic chemistry, converts waste carbon dioxide into cyclic carbonates. Cyclic carbonates are widely used in the manufacture of products including solvents, paint-strippers, bio-degradable packaging as well as having applications in the chemical industry. They also have the potential for use in the manufacture of a new class of efficient anti-knocking agents in petrol.
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Chemists at UCLA Design Crystals for Applications in Clean Energy
Posted on Friday, April 20, 2007 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 1:47 PM
Chemists at UCLA Design the Least Dense Crystals Known to Man for Applications in Clean Energy13 Apr 2007
Chemists at UCLA have designed new organic structures for the storage of voluminous amounts of gases for use in alternative energy technologies.
The research, to be published on April 13 in the journal Science, demonstrates how the design principles of reticular chemistry have been used to create three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks, which have high thermal stability, high surface areas and extremely low densities.
The covalent organic frameworks, or COFs (pronounced "coffs"), one of these new classes of materials, are the first crystalline porous organic networks...Some of the biggest energy & environment challenges have been finding ways to store hydrogen for use as a fuel, to use methane as an alternative fuel, and to capture and store carbon dioxide from power plant smokestacks. The research team believes COFs are uniquely suited for all these applications because of their functional flexibility and their extremely light weight and high porosity.
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the full report from here @ Technology News Daily
Labels: co2, hydrogen, methane, research
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UK push for biofuels may harm environment, campaigners say
Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 10:50 AM
UK push for biofuels may harm environment, campaigners say19 Mar 2007 bbj.hu
A UK plan to help tackle global warming by increasing the use of biofuels such as palm oil and rapeseed may do more harm to the environment than good,
environmental campaign groups said.
Fuel suppliers will have to ensure that from April 2008 a certain percentage of their sales come from biofuels, under a UK Department for Transport program. The proposal could see businesses producing biofuels by destroying rainforests and wetlands, threatening endangered habitats and species and releasing more carbon into the atmosphere, according to Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The groups said the government should tighten rules to ensure biofuel producers meet minimum standards on greenhouse gas emissions, and establish "environmental audits” of the entire life-cycle of the fuel, from cultivation through transportation to combustion.
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the full report from here @ BBJ, Hungary
Labels: climate-change, co2, environment
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Europe Tightens CO2 Standards with Two Directives
Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 10:37 AM
Europe Tightens CO2 Standards with Two DirectivesThe European Commission has proposed two directives to combat CO2 emissions from cars.
The first proposal will force carmakers to cut CO2 emissions from new cars by 18% by 2012. Carmakers would be responsible for getting emissions down to 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer (g/km) through technology improvements.
The second proposal, which updates a fuel-quality directive from 1998, outlines new fuel-quality standards that aim to achieve, by 2020, a 10% reduction in CO2 emissions throughout the whole product life cycle.
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the full report from here @ The American Chemical Society web page
Labels: climate-change, co2, environment
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Breakthrough Carbon Capture Technology Turns Wastewater to Resource
Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2007 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 8:50 PM
Breakthrough Carbon Capture Technology That Turns Wastewater to Resource
Press release
Sydney based greentech company Geo-Processors Pty Limited
announced the completion of development of a breakthrough Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology following successful initial process trials.
The technology - identified as Carbon Capture and Products Recovery (CCPR) system - enables efficient capture of CO2 from ambient air or point-sources and then conversion to mineral byproducts for industrial use or recycling.
Central to this technology is the use of massive volumes of bicarbonate-rich water produced as waste water by oil/gas production, coal mining and coal power stations and desalination processes - currently a source of environmental concerns and operational costs.
Read more from this press release @ IPD GroupLabels: co2, environment
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Total Launches First Integrated CO2 Capture and Geological Sequestration Project in France
Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 8:45 PM
Total Launches the First Integrated CO2 Capture and Geological Sequestration Project in a Depleted Natural Gas Field in SW FrancePress release
February 12, 2007
Total announces the launch of a pilot CO2 capture and sequestration project in the Lacq basin in southwestern France. The project, which leverages a technique considered among the most promising in the fight against climate change, calls for up to 150,000 metric tons of CO2 to be injected into a depleted natural gas field in Rousse (Pyrenees) over a period of two years as from end-2008.
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press release here @ OilVoice
Labels: climate-change, co2
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