2005-06-28

Methanol from Limestone?

Thanks in part to my esteemed friend Craig I've been drinking a shot or two of the Peak Oil Kool-Aid. One of the things he mentions is how great methanol is as a post-petroleum renewable fuel since it's an almost direct substitute for gasoline, with many of the benefits that other synthetic fuels (hydrogen, anhydrous ammonia, etc.) are lacking...save for the minor problem of actually getting our hands on the CO2 necessary to economically make it from hydrogen (preferably the atmosphere). The folks at LANL are working on a CO2 sequestration method that involves tossing a bunch of quicklime (CaCO) in the air, where it absorbs atmospheric CO2 and turns into, more or less, limestone. An endothermic (but not break-the-bank endothermic) reaction turns limestone back into quicklime and liberates the CO2. Meanwhile, back at the Bat Cave, we're taking some sort of renewable electric power (e.g. wind power, which if you've drunk enough of the Kool-Aid is cheaper than coal/nuclear/etc.) and are electrolyzing water. Mixing H2 and CO2 generates methanol and water (a third of what we started with). In the end, you're turning limestone, heat, electricity, and water into quicklime and methanol. Numbers-wise, you'd need 2.5kg of limestone, 900ml of water, and about .62 kilowatt-hours (net) of electricity to make a liter of methanol, plus a fair amount of oxygen. Let's see, the limestone gets recycled, water is cheap, and that much electricity would cost a little over a penny if you don't necessarily need it 24/7. That works out to about 5 cents a gallon...clearly too good to be true. What am I missing here?

2005-06-20

How does that old saying go?

As happy as a puppy with ...