Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy

Abstract

Nature's photosynthesis uses the sun's energy with chlorophyll in plants as a catalyst to recycle carbon dioxide and water into new plant life. Only given sufficient geological time can new fossil fuels be formed naturally. Today, anthropogenic CO2 emissions, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, also far outpace nature's CO2 recycling capabilities, contributing significantly to the current global warming problem. To supplement and dramatically accelerate the natural CO2 recycling process, chemical recycling of carbon dioxide from natural and industrial sources as well as varied human activities or even from the air itself to methanol or dimethyl ether (DME) and their varied products including hydrocarbons can be achieved via its capture and subsequent reductive conversion in the framework of the Methanol Economy.