The world is obsessed with the collapse in the price of oil but this is a madness that will pass. Unfortunately, it will harm the short-term prospects of renewables. Nevertheless, progress is being made. The Nobel Prize Winning chemist George Olah’s vision of a methanol economy, in which the clean fuel and feedstock methanol is made from carbon dioxide, thus reducing emissions, bore fruit in the George Olah Renewable Methanol Plant which began operation in 2011 at Svartsengi, Iceland. Now the same company has announced a much larger project. In collaboration with some big players such as Hitachi, they are developing a carbon-dioxide-to-methanol plant at the Luenen power-plant in Germany. The project has a budget of 11 million Euros and is partially funded by a grant from the EU Horizon2020 research program. One has to hope that such funding will keep renewables work going while the oil madness lasts.
The story of carbon dioxide conversion and the George Olah plant is featured in my book with Tom Grimsey, Nanoscience: Giants of the Infinitesimal.
The story of carbon dioxide conversion and the George Olah plant is featured in my book with Tom Grimsey, Nanoscience: Giants of the Infinitesimal.
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