Methanol Research Paper

How does the hydrogenation of CO2 into products such as methanol reduce the effect of global warming?

Introduction

Coal, petroleum and natural gas are fossil fuels that have allowed the fast and unprecedented development of human society. However, the burning of these resources at an ever- increasing pace is accompanied by large amounts of atmospheric CO2 emissions, causing adverse global environmental changes. Even though these fossil fuels are still abundant, they are limited and overtime will become depleted. Scientists have created a way to chemically recycle CO2 to renewable fuels and materials, primarily methanol, which offers a powerful alternative to overcome both global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels. Chemical conversion …show more content…
The carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere where it remains for 100 to 200 years. The Greenhouse effect occurs when, solar radiation enters the Earth's atmosphere, approximately 22% of this solar radiation is reflected back off the earth's surface. Of this 22%, 5% is absorbed by molecules in the atmosphere, these molecules reradiate the thermal radiation back towards earth and therefore warming it up. Through the continued burning of fossil fuels and the manufacturing industry an increase of CO2 in the atmosphere has been seen. This is shown in figure 1 which highlights the increase in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere over 50 years. This increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will cause an increased amount of solar radiation to be trapped, therefore slowly increasing the warmth of the earth's surface. This increase of temperature leads to the melting ice caps or snow and rising ocean levels, which can cause flooding. This increase of carbon dioxide and heat trapped in the atmosphere can also create desertification which is caused when long periods of drought results in fertile land to become a desert. Another, and major consequence of an increase in CO2 is ocean acidification. The oceans on Earth are all slightly alkaline, on average recording a pH of approximately 8.2, an increase of CO2 has seen the oceans decrease by a value of approximately 0.1. Although this is a small change in pH, it represents a nearly 30% increase in hydronium ion concentration. This occurs because carbon dioxide is soluble in the sea water and reacts to form carbonic acid 〖(CO〗_2+H_2 O→H_2 CO_3), Carbonic acid is a weak acid and partially ionises, forming hydronium, and hydrogen carbonate ions (H_2 CO_3+H_2 O→H_3 O^++HCO^-). Although this is devastating, the use of hydrogenation of CO2 can reduce the potential for these to

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