Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
we suggest that a renewable chemical economy is also warranted. Solar energy can be
efficiently used, as demonstrated with the STEP process, to directly and efficiently form
the chemicals needed by society without carbon dioxide emissions. Iron, a basic com-
modity, currently accounts for the release of one quarter of worldwide CO
2
emissions
by industry, which may be eliminated by replacement with the STEP iron process. The
unexpected solubility of iron oxides in lithium carbonate electrolytes, coupled with
facile charge transfer and a sharp decrease in iron electrolysis potentials with increas-
ing temperature, provides a new route for iron production. Iron is formed without an
extensive release of CO
2
in a process compatible with the predominant naturally occur-
ring iron oxide ores, hematite, Fe
2
O
3
, and magnetite, Fe
3
O
4
. STEP can also be used in
direct carbon capture, and the efficient solar generation of hydrogen and other fuels.
In addition to the removal of CO
2
, the STEP process is shown to be consistent with
the efficient solar generation of a variety of metals, as well as chlorine via endothermic
electrolyses. Commodity production and fuel consumption processes are responsi-
ble for the majority of anthropogenic CO
2
release, and their replacement by STEP
processes provide a path to end the root cause of anthropogenic global warming, as
a transition beyond the fossil fuel, electrical or hydrogen economy, to a renewable
chemical economy based on the direct formulation of the materials needed by society.
An expanded understanding of electrocatalysis and materials will advance the efficient
electrolysis of STEP's growing porfolio of energetic products.
REFERENCES
Abanades, S. and Chambon, M. (2010) CO
2
Dissociation and upgrading from two-step solar
thermochemical processes based on ZnO/Zn and SnO
2
/SnO redox pairs.
Energy Fuels,
24,
6677-6674.
Andrews, A. and Logan, J. (2008) Fischer-Tropsch fuels from coal, natural gas, and biomass:
background and policy.
Congressional Research Service Report for Congress.
RL34133,
(March 27, 2008); available at: http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34133_20080327.pdf.
Amonix (2012) at: http://www. amonix.com/
Andrieux, L. and Weiss, G. (1944) Productions of electrolysis of molten salts with an iron anode.
Comptes Rendu
217 615.
AREVA (2012) at: http://www.areva.com/EN/solar-220/areva-solar.html
Barber, J. (2009) Photosynthetic energy conversion: natural and artificial.
Chemical Society
Reviews
, 38, 185-196.
Barbier, E. (2010) How is the global green new deal going?.
Nature,
464, 832-833.
Barton, E.E., Rampulla, D.M. and Bocarsly, A.B. (2008) Selective solar-driven reduction of
CO
2
to methanol using a catalyzed p-GaP based photoelectrochemical cell.
Journal of the
American Chemical Society,
130, 6342-6344.
Benson, E., Kubiak, C.P., Sathrum, A.J. and Smieja, J.M. (2009) Electrocatalytic and homo-
geneous approaches to conversion of CO
2
to liquid fuels.
Chemical Society Reviews
, 38,
89-99.
Bockris, J. O'M. (1980)
Energy Options.
Halsted Press New York.
BrightSource (2012) at: http://brightsourceenergy.com
Chandler, H., Pollara, F., Elikan, L., Archer, D. and Zahradnik, R. (1966) Aerospace life support.
AICHE Chemical Engineering Progress Series,
62, 38-42.
Chase, M.W. (1998) NIST-JANAF Thermochemical Tables. 4th Edition.
Journal of Physical
and Chemical Reference Data, 9
, 1; data available at: http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/
form-ser.html
Search WWH ::
Custom Search