By PTI Staff, The Free Press Journal.
Scientists have developed a new cost-effective method that can convert greenhouse gas CO2 into natural gas and also help store renewable energy. Research at the Leiden University in the Netherlands shows how this process can be implemented in a cost-effective and controllable way.
The conversion of the greenhouse gas CO2 into natural gas is achieved using a chemical process in which CO2 is bubbled through an acid solution. The solution contains a graphite electrode – to which a small negative voltage is applied – with a cobalt-porphyrin catalyst attached to it.
It was already known that this catalyst can convert CO2 into carbon monoxide and methane, but the reaction always released unwanted hydrogen. In their investigation, Professor Marc Koper and PhD student Jing Shen show for the first time how the process works.