[pf] 'the methanol cycle'?

    (My notes at the bottom.  D.)
· Two interesting items from the same batch of news a month ago:
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http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr2001/2001L-04-19-09.html 
  is: AmeriScan for April 19, containing:

* * *
CLIMATE JUSTICE TOUR FEATURES NIGERIAN, ALASKAN SPEAKERS

SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 19, 2001 (ENS) - An environmentalist from
Nigeria and another from Alaska are touring the United States together to
spread the message that it is the poorest people of the world who will
suffer the most from unrestrained global warming. 

>From today through May 2, human rights attorney and environmental activist,
Oronto Douglas who is deputy director of Environmental Rights Action in
Nigeria, and Sarah James, a Gwich'in Indian from Alaska, will speak about
the dangers of climate change. Their tour takes them to San Francisco,
California; San Antonio and Austin, Texas; New Orleans and Baton Rouge,
Louisiana; and Boulder, Colorado. 

For many generations, the Gwich'in people have depended upon subsistance
hunting of caribou in what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This
area has been targeted by the Bush administration for oil and gas
development that the Gwich'in say will interfere with the caribou. "Unless
we reverse these trends," says James, "traditional indigenous cultures like
our own will disappear. Common sense is an endangered species, we have to
get back to basic common sense." 


Oronto Douglas was a member of the legal team who defended writer and
environmentalist, Ken Saro Wiwa, hanged, along with eight others, by the
Nigerian military regime in 1995. (Photo courtesy CorpWatch)
Describing the Niger Delta where oil extraction has left a polluted
environment and sick people, Douglas says, "The rivers are polluted. The
waters are fouled. The air is fouled through ceaseless gas flaring. Most of
this flaring comes from multinational oil companies, which helps to
increase the over-carbonization of the atmosphere." 
These two environmentalists from opposite ends of the globe are linked by
their common experiences with the ecological degradation and human rights
abuses associated with oil production. 

Douglas and James will attend the annual meeting of Chevron shareholders in
Los Angeles, California on April 25. Chevron has been involved in oil
exploration in both the Arctic and Nigeria, while opposing national and
international curbs on the gases emitted by burning oil and gas that are
linked to global warming. 

Sponsored by CorpWatch, a corporate accountability pressure group, the tour
is designed to highlight the relationship between global warming and
environmental racism, and the tendency to site polluting industries in poor
U.S. communities and underdeveloped parts of the world. 

"When it comes to climate change, the world's poor suffer a double whammy,"
said CorpWatch climate justice coordinator Amit Srivastava. "There is the
immediate impact of living in highly toxic environments and the long term
impact of global warming which will disproportionately affect poor
communities." 

Srivastava announced that a coalition of environmental justice groups has
sent a letter to President George W. Bush urging that he reconsider his
position on climate change in view of the particular devastation that
global warming would bring to poor communities. 

For a Climate Justice Tour schedule log on to:
http://www.corpwatch.org/climate/updates/2001/springtour.html 


* * *
CERAMIC CARBON MOPS COULD HELP COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, April 19, 2001 (ENS) - Toshiba Corporation and
Toshiba Ceramics Co., Ltd. today unveiled a new application for a ceramic
material: it absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) faster than similar materials,
and does so at room temperature. 

The material, lithium silicate (Li2O-SiO2), is seen as a milepost toward
the development of lighter, cheaper ceramic materials offering faster
absorption rates, while its room temperature absorption of CO2 opens the
way to a wide range of practical applications in reducing CO2 emissions.
[note: lithium silicate can be ordered;
 it is Item No. CC-1863 on: http://home.hkstar.com/~yickvic/page6.html ; and
 it is used in dried gel form, for high-density rechargeable batteries:
http://www.phys.subr.edu/faculty/rambabu.htm ]

Carbon dioxide has been identified as a major contributor to global
warming. International efforts to control CO2 emission levels are
accelerating, and collecting and storing the gas before it is released into
the atmosphere is one potential strategy. 

Toshiba Ceramics, a specialist in industrial ceramics, made a major
contribution to the development of lithium silicate for this purpose. 

"We are delighted to have contributed to development of this breakthrough
ceramic material that holds out great promise for fighting CO2 emissions
and contributing to environmental protection," said Hideo Uemoto, deputy
manager at Toshiba Ceramics' Research & Development Center. "We now look
forward to developing a variety of practical applications and to bringing
them to market at an early date." 

Commercial versions of the new ceramic material could play a central role
in emission reduction, Toshiba argues. For example, CO2 absorbing ceramic
cartridges could be installed in automobiles, power plants and industrial
facilities, and exchanged when they were full. 

Collected CO2 could be recycled, Toshiba says. In commercial agriculture,
it could be used to promote photosynthesis and plant growth in greenhouses,
or it could be reacted with hydrogen to produce methanol. 

Some researchers envisage an environment-friendly fuel cycle in which
carbon dioxide from methanol-burning power plants is converted back into
methanol using natural energy such as sunlight. 

Toshiba and Toshiba Ceramics plan to launch the prototype of small size
industrial use CO2 collection devices by the end of year, followed by large
size devices in 2003. Details of lithium silicate will be announced at the
American Ceramic Society meeting to be held April 22 to 25 in Indianapolis. 

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· I've modified (corrected) the second item, which originally claimed
Toshiba had created a new ceramic material, lithium silicate (Li2O-SiO2). I
found within seconds that you could order it from a HongKong supply
company, and that it was being investigated for use as a mat, between or as
the electrodes in high energy-density rechargeable batteries (at Southern
University, Baton Rouge, LA).

· However, while I was originally skeptical (and remain to be convinced),
I'm guessing this technology may have a significant part to play in the
energy-supply system in developed parts of the world (at least).

· Methanol is the single-carbon (lightest) alcohol - liquid at room
temperature (though it vaporises rather fast if unconstrained). So it
produces the least CO2 per trillion molecules burned, of all the alcohols;
yet is liquid, and easily transported in gas-tanks.

Further, if it's correct that: "collected CO2 [captured in cartridges]
could be recycled [and] reacted with hydrogen to produce methanol" with
only modest input of energy, then you should get a nearly-closed
methanol-CO2 loop, I think. (Hydrogen in, water out.) Probably expensive,
but doable (_if_ it's correct).
  That chemical engineering part I know nothing about.

· I also know nothing about how much CO2 is produced in the alternative use
of methanol for energy production, in fuel cells.

· I'm (i) pointing out that technological investigation is important, and
(ii) suggesting your ears prick up when you hear methanol being mentioned.

David.
(David MacClement) davd@ihug.co.nz 
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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