Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Utilization: Sustainable Economy Solutions from CO2 and Water | Industrial Applications & Green Energy Innovation

"An economy based on carbon dioxide and water" is a sensible response to the critical dependency of our economies on energy and the fact that carbon-based liquid fuels are the most efficient means of storing and transporting that energy. The book is directed at researchers in the field of carbon dioxide capture and reprocessing and each chapter is written by a separate group of experts. However, despite the almost enumerative care which has been taken in the preparation of many chapters, some important technologies are hardly mentioned (for example, urea manufacturing or the Allam combustion process) and some important drawbacks are arguably not given enough emphasis, making the book unsuitable as an introduction to the subject, except for the very determined.Refreshingly it is acknowledged on the very first page that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may not be the direct cause of global warming. As the principal editor Michele Aresta correctly states, water vapour is a more common and more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. However, as Aresta again states, carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere may simply be a proxy for direct human heating of the atmosphere through inefficient use of fossil fuel energy. This poses difficult regulatory and legislative questions as it undermines the direct validity of carbon dioxide emissions taxes.Chapter 1 goes painstakingly through various chemical transformation options for carbon dioxide, somewhat fudging the issues, however, when it comes to reaction temperatures and pressures.Chapter 2 among other things showcases an amine-based exhaust carbon dioxide capture system in a circulating fluidised bed, while chapter 3 is a somewhat light-hearted account of the current direct uses of carbon dioxide in commerce and industry.Chapter 4 is a nice, readable account of the basics of using mineral rocks to absorb carbon dioxide, sometimes after heat activation and grinding.Chapter 5 covers the conversion of carbon dioxide to other single carbon products including methanol, for which there is already a working 4000t per year plant (the "George Olah plant") in Iceland.Chapter 6 covers the synthesis of more complex carbon-based molecules and includes such hydrocarbon basics as the Anderson-Schultz-Flory hydrocarbon chain growth probability as well as worthwhile insights into the nature and reaction steps at alpha iron oxide and gamma iron oxide catalytic sites for carbon dioxide conversion to higher energy products (at 25 atmospheres pressure and 350°C).Chapter 7 presents electrochemical and photoelectrochemical methods, many of which still suffer from the very short working lives of the electrodes, while chapters 7 and 8 present plasma and bioelectrochemical systems respectively, both of which are not commercially viable, producing products costing five times the market price.Chapter 10 is a wonderful, brief account of genetic modification of photosynthesis systems in plants and cyanobacteria to produce a range of products. Sadly, the outputs are as yet far too low for commercial exploitation.Chapter 11 looks at potential commercial exploitation of photosynthetic microalgae, but reaches the conclusion that presently this represents only niche markets in the food and animal feed sectors.Chapter 12 carries out an economic analysis of potential carbon dioxide capture and reprocessing in Singapore, examining the economics of producing various products. Producing exclusively formic acid, formaldehyde or acetic acid would saturate the world market for the product and cause a price collapse, while methanol presented a good opportunity for profit assuming the cost of hydrogen was not too high.Chapter 13 is a summary chapter by the principal editor, Aresta.A glossary of abbreviations would improve the book, as would proper proof-reading of the English.