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Posted by: Edward Dodge
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Carbon Conversion is Key to Solving Climate Change Problems


Posted February 10, 2014

Keywords: Carbon and De-carbonization, Tech, Sustainability, Climate, Coal, Cleantech, Recycling, Green Business, carbon conversion, carbon reduction commitment, global warming

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed into law an amendment to the Clean Air Act that mandated emissions reductions of the harmful pollutant sulfur dioxide, SO2, from coal-fired power plants. The government did not instruct industry how they were to achieve the reductions, but merely that they were required to. A novel system called ‘cap and trade’ was implemented for the first time that allowed polluters some flexibility in how they met the targets by trading credits.
Cap and trade was a market based policy innovation that broke with the typical ‘command and control’ methods for reducing pollution. The market-based approach led to a wave of innovation in exhaust scrubber technologies and created a profitable market for sulfur products that was not anticipated. There is now a large market for sulfur commodities derived from coal, particularly in agrochemicals, a market that reached 41.1 million metric tons in 2012.....


There is another way forward. Convert the carbon dioxide into useful products, just as was done with sulfur dioxide. This is a big challenge as the volume of CO2 that needs to be sequestered is incredibly large, a single coal power plant can produce millions of tons of CO2 per year and global estimates are in the billions of tons per year........

Make CO2 into a commodity and the market will take care of it.
CO2 is a useful molecule and a basic building block of life. CO2 can be polymerized (turned into plastics), mineralized (turned into stone such as calcium carbonate), used to grow plants or put to work in a variety of industrial and scientific applications.

CO2 can be converted into fuels as well, but it requires energy to break the molecular bonds so there is a tricky energy balance that must be worked out for any CO2 to fuels process to be effective. With that in mind there are a number of firms seeking to take advantage of cheap forms of energy such as industrial waste heat or desert solar to produce CO2 fuels.

Many entrepreneurs see the opportunity in this emerging market and the science has leaped forward in recent years. Examples include
Novomer, a small chemicals firm that has developed novel catalysts that convert CO2 into polymers and plastics.
Joule is a biotech startup that is using waste CO2 to feed bacteria that produce ethanol and diesel.
Skyonic and Calera corporations are mineralizing CO2 for use in construction materials.

The challenge of finding a market for billions of tons of carbon dioxide is undoubtedly enormous, but so are the consequences of not succeeding. Climate change caused by excessive CO2 pollution is an existential problem gripping humanity. Yet coal consumption is growing globally by leaps and bounds as China, India and the rest of the developing world seek to raise the standard of living for billions of people. Energy is needed to lift the poor up out of poverty and coal is the world’s dominant form of energy. Despite all the advances in alternatives and renewable energy, coal is still king.
An effective solution is needed to reduce the carbon emissions from coal burning and simply ordering people to change, or attempting to appeal to them through moral persuasion is inadequate.

The lesson learned from reducing SO2 can apply to CO2, yes the problem is bigger and tougher, but the same rules apply. Convert pollution from a liability into an asset by putting a price on carbon and let the market handle it.
Treating CO2 as toxic waste ensures that it ends up as toxic waste, complete with a huge bill and long-term liabilities.
But if we can treat CO2 as a misallocated asset and develop a market for it then we can solve the problem. We can convert CO2 into a family of useful products, create new industries and hopefully solve climate change in one fell swoop.

http://theenergycollective.com/ed-dodge/338596/carbon-conversion-key-solving-climate-change-problems