In West Virginia, researchers at West Virginia University have taken the first steps toward developing technology that can capture carbon dioxide in the air and use it for eco-friendly manufacturing of methanol. The process they have begun modeling — which involves pulling air from buildings — could increase the sustainable supply of methanol, one of the world’s most extensively used raw materials, while removing a planet-warming greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
The Phase I project is supported by $400,000 in U.S. Department of Energy funding.
The methanol production system envisioned would hook directly into the existing rooftop HVAC units commonly installed on commercial and residential buildings. The equipment could harvest carbon from the air that gets sucked out of the building by its heating and air conditioning systems.
The equipment could also make its own carbon-free hydrogen, using a rooftop solar panel or other renewable energy source to power solid oxide electrolysis cells, which can split water into oxygen and hydrogen.
A catalyst could combine those hard-to-transport carbon, hydrogen and oxygen gases and turn them into easy-to-transport liquid methanol right on the spot. The methanol could then be piped from the top or side of the building into a tanker truck.
