Wednesday, March 05, 2014

New Catalyst Could Lead to Cleaner Energy

This illustration features a new catalyst developed at MIT which consists of a molybdenum atom (yellow) bound to four oxygen atoms (red). This complex, known as molybdate, binds two molecules of carbon dioxide (carbon atoms are gray), which can later be released to create organic compounds. (Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT; molybdate 3-d rendering by Loana Knopf) Click to enlarge.
MIT chemists have devised a way to trap carbon dioxide and transform it into useful organic compounds, using a simple metal complex.

More work is needed to understand and optimize the reaction, but one day this approach could offer an easy and inexpensive way to recapture some of the carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles and power plants, says Christopher Cummins, an MIT professor of chemistry and leader of the research team.

“Ideally we’d like to develop carbon-neutral cycles for renewable energy, to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and avoid pollution,” Cummins says.  “In addition, since producers of oil have lots of carbon dioxide available to them, companies are interested in using that carbon dioxide as an inexpensive feedstock to make value-added chemicals, including things like polymers.”

New Catalyst Could Lead to Cleaner Energy

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