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Ammonia can substitute Gasoline

Ammonia is a well-known industrial chemical that is manufactured worldwide as a precursor for the production of Urea. The chemistry and technology of Ammonia synthesis is well-known and well established. It was a land mark achievement to fix atmospheric Nitrogen into the soil in the form of Urea as a fertilizer. It has 17.6% Hydrogen and 82.4% Nitrogen making it an ideal fuel for combustion when compared to Gasoline in terms of greenhouse gas emission because Ammonia no carbon. Handling free Hydrogen has always been a concern due to its explosive nature and lightness. Transportation of Hydrogen in the form of Ammonia is relatively cheaper and safer. A non-regulated Ammonia nursing tank at 265 psi pressure holds 3025kg Ammonia, containing 534kg Hydrogen, because a 5900 gallon Hydrogen tube trailer at 3200 psi pressure, contain only 350kgs of Hydrogen. Low pressure Ammonia tank with less than 25% volume contain more than 53% Hydrogen than a high pressure tube trailer. Ammonia has a lower volumetric energy density compared to other fuels.However, after subtracting energy required to elicit hydrogen from each fuel, hydrogen emerges with highest energy density compared to other fuels, and it is the only fuel which is carbon free. These qualities make Ammonia, a potential  substitute for Gasoline.

Ammonia need not be used as direct combustible fuel in internal combustion engines but it can be used as Hydrogen carrier safely and economically. The Hydrogen resulting from the decomposition of Ammonia can be used as fuel in a Fuel cell car as well as in a combustion engine. It can also be used to generate small on site power using a Fuel cell or IC engine. For example, 534kg Hydrogen can generate Electricity up to 10 MW and up to 6Mw thermal energy using a Fuel cell.

Currently ammonia is manufactured using fossil fuel source such as natural gas or naphtha to generate Hydrogen in the form of Syngas.But this can be effectively substituted with renewable source of Hydrogen such as Electrolysis of water using renewable solar thermal power or wind energy. Alternatively a biogas can be steam reformed to generate Hydrogen similar to natural gas. The generated Hydrogen can be compressed and stored.

Nitrogen forms 79% of atmospheric air and it can be obtained by air liquefaction and separation by distillation or by simple membrane separation method to separate air into Nitrogen and Oxygen. The resulting Nitrogen can be compressed and stored for Ammonia sysnthsis.Production of Ammonia using Bosch Haber process is well-known. Ammonia can be transported in pipelines, in tankers by road, rail or ship to various destinations.

Ammonia can be readily be used as fuel using a spark ignited combustion engine with little changes because Ammonia is classified as non-combustible fuel. Alternatively, it can be decomposed in a catalytic bed reactor and separated into Hydrogen and Nitrogen using PSA (pressure swing adsorption) system. The resulting Hydrogen can be stored to run a Fuel cell car like Honda FCX. Ammonia, as a Hydrogen carrier can substitute gasoline as an alternative fuel for transportation and power generation. All necessary technologies and systems are commercially available to make it a commercial reality.

 

Concentrated solar power- a game changer

We  acknowledge that solar energy is a potential renewable energy source of the future. The total energy need of the world is projected in the next 40 years to be 30 TW (terra watts) and only solar energy has a potential to meet the above demand. However, harnessing sun’s energy to its fullest potential is still a long way to go. Concentrated solar power (CSP) offers a greater hope to fill this gap. The main reason is the cost  advantage of CSP compared to PV solar and energy storage technologies and their costs.

The cost of PV solar has steadily decreased in the past few years. Though the cost of solar cell has come down to $0.75 per watt, the overall cost of the PV system is still around $ 3.00 per watt. This is due to the cost of encapsulation; interconnect wiring, mounting of panels, inverters and battery bank. The overall cost of the system will not come down drastically beyond a point. This makes PV solar still more expensive compared to conventional power generation using fossil fuels. People can understand the value of renewable energy and impending dangers of global warming due to greenhouse gases, but the final cost of energy will decide the future of energy sources.

In PV solar the sun’s light energy is directly converted into Electricity, but storing such energy using batteries have certain limitations. PV solar is suitable for small-scale operations but it may not be cost-effective for large-scale base load power generation. The best option will be to harness the sun’s thermal energy and store them and use them to generate power using the conventional and established methods such as steam or gas turbines. Once we generate thermal energy of required capacity then we have number of technologies to harness them into  useful forms. As we mentioned earlier, the thermal energy can trigger a chemical reaction such as formation of Ammonia by reaction between Hydrogen and Nitrogen under pressure, which will release a large amount of thermal energy by exothermic reaction. Such heat can be used to generate steam to run a stem turbine to generate power. The resulting ammonia can be split with concentrated solar power (CSP) into Hydrogen and Nitrogen and the above process can be repeated.

The same system can also be used to split commercial Ammonia into Hydrogen and Nitrogen. The resulting Hydrogen can be separated and stored under pressure. This Hydrogen can be used to fuel Fuel cell cars such as Honda FXC or to generate small-scale power for homes and offices.

By using CSP, there is potential of cost savings as much as 70% compared to PV solar system for the same capacity power generation on a larger scale. Focusing sun’s energy using large diameter parabolic troughs and concentrators, one can generate high temperatures.  Dishes can typically vary in size and configuration from a small diameter of perhaps 1 meter to much larger structures of a dozen or more meters in diameter.  Point focus dish concentrators are mounted on tracking systems that track the sun in two axes, directly pointing at the sun, and the receiver is attached to the dish at the focal point so that as the dish moves, the receiver moves with it.  These point focus systems can generate high temperatures exceeding 800ºC and even 1,800ºC.

The temperature required to run a steam turbine does not exceed 290C and it is quite possible to store thermal energy using mixture of molten salts with high Eutectic points and use them to generate steam. Such large-scale energy storage using lead-acid batteries and power generation using PV solar may not be economical. But it will be economical and technically feasible to harness solar thermal energy using CSP for large-scale base load power generation. It is estimated that the cost of such CSP will compete with traditional power generation using coal or oil in the near future.CSP has potential to generate cost-effective clean power as well as a fuel for transportation.

Solar thermal for base load power

The city of Athens hosted its oldest tradition of lighting the Olympic torch for the 2012 London Olympic Games on Thursday in Olympia. The torch was lit by solar power; using parabolic mirror to redirect the sun’s light to light the flame with purest natural light. The thermal energy of sun’s light can be powerful when focused to a point and it can reach a temperature as much as 600C.The parabolic trough with reflective mirror focuses the sunlight on the tube called ‘collectors’ in which a fluid with high boiling point is circulated. The hot fluid in turn is used to convert water into steam in boiler. The hot oil transfers its heat to the water in a heat exchanger and returns back to the parabolic trough. It is a closed circuit system. The hot oil at 390C generates steam at 370C at 100 bar pressure, which is used to run a HP steam turbine. The standard steam condensing cycle generates power similar to fossil fuel fired power plant. A 50 Mw Trough plant in Israel (Negev Desert) is already in operation.

The capacity of such plant can be easily expanded by adding modular parabolic troughs and collectors and the plant can be designed to meet  specific power demands. This is a straight forward method to generate base load power using standard steam cycle. The efficiency of such system will be 41% maxium.However recently few companies are trying use a combined cycle. This increase the solar to heat efficiency from 50.5% to 53.6%.This nominal 50Mw power plant generates  a total peak power of 57.10Mw using a solar collection area of 310,028m2 with annual solar to electrical efficiency at 16.3% using a water-cooled condenser in the steam cycle. The cost of energy works out to $0.23 to $ 0.25 /kwhrs.

By using a central solar collection tower (Heliostat) and bottoming with Rankin/Kalina cycle ,it is estimated that the total installed cost can be reduced by 10%.The system can be configured from 2Mw up to 100Mw using both trough and tower system. The system can be installed in any remote, arid locations using air condensers, where cooling water is a problem. The estimated annual specific energy cost is less than 6 cents/kwhrs, comparable to low-cost fossil energy but with zero pollution and with zero carbon emission.

Solar thermal is a potential clean energy of the future for many countries around the world with yearlong sunshine with good intensisty.The solar thermal energy can also be used in many process industries where thermal heating is required. Solar salt pans can use solar thermal energy very efficiently to cut their production cycle. The concentrated brine can be used as a circulation fluid in solar collectors and also be used to generate power using low heat technologies like Kalina cycle, because concentrated salt brine can store thermal heat.

Gemasolar power in Spain is a base load power station supplying power for 25,000 homes 24×7 using molten salt (60% KNO3+40% NaNO3) as a thermal storage medium instead of batteries. Nine plants were built in 1980 in Mojave Desert with a combined capacity of 354 Mws.

Other examples of solar base load power plants are Blythe solar with capacity of 968Mw at Riverside County, California and Ivanpah power station with capacity of 370 Mw capacities in US. Large scale solar base load plants are no longer a theory but a commercial reality.

Direct solar lighting is also being introduced using fiber optics. The sun light is collected at a central point and directed through fiber optics to various rooms inside the building supplying direct sun light. This saves not only electricity but also provides natural light to work places because human body requires a certain amount of UV light exposure. Solar energy is here to stay and offer various clean energy solutions in the future.

 

 

Renewability and Sustainability

Renewability and sustainability are two critical factors that will decide the future course of the world. We have to learn from Nature how sun is able to sustain life on earth for millions of years without the slightest hitch. The sun provides light energy for the photosynthesis to generate Carbohydrate using carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water. The green pigment in the leaves of the plant ‘Chlorophyll’ catalalyses the photosynthesis. The plant grows and serves as food for animals. After certain period both the plant and animal dies and becomes carbon. New plants and animals are produced and the cycle continues. The dead plant decays and serves as manure for the new plant. A sequence of combinations of atmosphere, photosynthesis, micronutrients in the soil, absorption of carbon dioxide from air and release of Oxygen into the atmosphere, food production, life sustainenace, death and decay play like a symphony in an orchestra. Microorganisms too play their role in this cycle.

It is obvious from the above process that life cycle is based on ‘Renewability’.The  death and decay of the old plant gives way to the birth of new plant and new cycle. There is nothing static .It is a dynamic and cyclic process, where ‘Renewability’ is the key. Only with renewability the process can ‘sustain’. Without a cyclic nature, the process will end abruptly. In fact ‘renewability’ and ‘sustainability’ are closely linked.

When we try to develop a new source of energy it is absolutely critical that such a source is renewable and available directly from Nature. Sun is the prime source of such energy, though it is also available in other forms such as wind, wave, ocean thermal etc. Such renewability can come only from Nature because human life in intricately linked with Nature such as earth, sun and wind. Everything that happens in Nature is to support life on earth and not to destroy. This is a fundamental issue.

When we dig out Carbon from the earth  that was deeply buried by Nature and burn them, we release Carbon dioxide as well as Oxide of Nirtogen.Though our primary interest is only heat, we also create by-products such as greenhouse gases that upset the natural equilibrium. Nature can make some adjustments in order to maintain equilibrium; but when this limit exceeds, the equilibrium is upset creating a new environment, which may be alien to human life. This is unsustainable. Nature does not burn organic matter indiscriminately to generate Carbon dioxide to promote photosynthesis. It judiciously and delicately uses atmospheric Carbon dioxide without the slightest disturbance to the equilibrium. Many chemical reactions are irreversible and can cause irreversible damages, similar to ‘radiation’ from a nuclear reaction.

Whatever we do in the name of science, we will have to face their consequences, if we fail to understand the process of Nature completely and thoroughly. Fossil fuel sources are limited and burning them away to meet our energy demands is neither prudent nor sustainable. Human greed has no limit. We live in a finite world with finite resources and there is no place for infinite greed and destruction. There is no solution in Science for human greed.

 

Power generation with Ammonia

Majority of current power generation technologies are based on thermodynamic principles of heat and work. Heat is generated by  chemical reactions such as combustion of coal, oil or gas with air or pure oxygen. This heat of combustion is then converted into work by a reciprocating engine or steam turbine of gas turbine. The mechanical energy is converted into electricity in power generation and as a motive force in transportation. The fundamental principles remain the same irrespective of the efficiencies and sophistication we incorporated as we progressed. The efficiency of these systems hardly exceeds 30-40 of the heat input, while the remaining 60-70 heat is wasted. We were also able to use this waste heat and improved the efficiency of the system by way of CHP (combined heat and power) up to 80-85%.But this is possible only in situations where one can use both power and heat simultaneously. In a centralized power plant such large heat simply dissipated as a waste heat through cooling towers and in the flue gas. This is a huge loss of heat because a substantial part of heat of combustion is simply vented into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases. If ‘greenhouse gas’ and ‘Global warming’ were not issues of concern to the world, probably we would have continued our business as usual.

Generation of heat by combustion of hydrocarbon is one example of a chemical reaction. In many chemical reactions, heat is either released or absorbed depending upon the type of reaction, whether it is exothermic or endothermic. Sometimes these chemical reactions are reversible. It may release heat while the reaction moves forward and it may absorb heat while it moves backward in the reverse direction. By selecting such reaction one can make use of such energy transformations to our advantages. One need not release the heat and then release the product of reaction into the air like burning fossil fuels.

Ammonia is one such reaction. When Hydrogen and Nitrogen is reacted in presence of a catalyst under high temperature and pressure the reaction goes forward releasing a large amount of energy as practiced in industries using Heber’s process. The heat released by this reaction can be converted into steam and we can generate power using steam cycle. The resulting Ammonia can further be heated in presence of a catalyst by external heat due to endothermic nature of the reaction and split into Hydrogen and Nitrogen.  However, such heat can be supplied only from external sources. One University in Australia is trying use the above principle by using solar thermal energy as a source of external heat. The advantage of this system is power can be generated without burning any fossil fuel or emitting any greenhouse gas. One can use a renewable energy sources such as solar thermal and also use Ammonia as a storage medium.

Ammonia is a potential source of energy to substitute fossil fuels. However, such Ammonia is now synthesized using Hydrocarbon such as oil and gas. The source of Hydrogen is from synthesis gas resulting from steam reformation of a Hydrocarbon. Hydrogen can also be derived from water using electrolysis using renewable energy source. In both the above cases, renewable energy is the key, without which no Hydrogen can be produced without a Hydrocarbon or an external heat is supplied for splitting Ammonia.

Ammonia can also be split into Hydrogen and Nitrogen using external heat.  The resulting Hydrogen can be used to generate power using a Fuel cell or run a Fuel cell car. Nitrogen also has many industrial applications.Thereoefore ammonia is a potential chemical that can substitute fossil fuels in the new emerging renewable economy.

Changing Chemistry of air,water and earth- recipe for disaster

Those who studied chemistry and conducted laboratory experiments in universities will be familiar with precautionary measures we take to avoid  accidents. Aprons, gloves, goggles and fume cub-boards with exhaust fans are some few examples of protective measures from flames, hot plates and fumes. The blue color of the flame represented the degree of hotness of the flame from Bunsen burner; the pungent smell pointed to the ‘Gas plant’ that generated ‘water gas’ for Bunsen burners. The familiar smells of chemicals would bring ‘nostalgic memories’ of college days. Each bottle of chemicals would display a sign of warning ‘Danger or Poison’. We could recognize and identify even traces of  gases or fumes or chemicals immediately. Those memories embedded deeply in our memories and I vividly remembered even after few decades I left university.

I could smell traces of Chlorine in the air even at a distance of 20 miles from a Chloroalkali plant in sixties, when air pollution controls were not stringent. People who lived around the factory probably were used to live with that smell for generations. Many families had not breathed  fresh air in their life time, because they have not breathed air without traces of chlorine.They lived all their lives in the same place because agriculture was their profession. Many people developed breathing problems during  their old ages and died of asthma and tuberclosis.The impact of these fumes cannot be felt in months and years but certainly can be felt after decades especially at old ages, when the body’s immune system deteriorates. Bhopal gas accident in India is a grim reminder of  such tragedy of chemical accidents and how they can contaminate air, water and earth and degrade human lives. But we learnt any lessons from those accidents?

During experimental thermonuclear explosion in the desert of Australia by then British army, people were directly exposed to nuclear radiation. Many of those  who saw this explosion developed some form of cancer or other later in their life .They were treated as heroes then. After several decades of this incident, many exposed to this experiment are now demanding compensation from current British government. But have we learnt any lessons from those incidents? Many politicians still advocate ‘Nuclear energy as a safe and clean energy’. Yes, until we meet with an another accident!

We human beings identified the presence of  chemicals in Nature and used them for our scientific developments. We identified fossil fuels as ‘Hydrocarbons’ and burn them to generate power and to run our cars. We emit toxic gases and fumes every second of our lives, when we switch our lights on or start our cars.Imagine the amount of gases and fumes we emit everyday all over the world by billions of people for several decades. It is a simple common sense that we are responsible for these emissions and we contaminate the air we breathe. Nature does not burn Hydrocarbons everyday or every month or every year. In fact Nature buried these Hydrocarbons deep down the earth like we bury our dead.

Can people who breathed Chlorine for decades and died of asthma or tuberculosis prove that they died due constant inhalation of Chlorine emitted by the Chloroalkali plant? The Court and Authorities will demand ‘hard evidence’ to prove that Chlorine emitted by Chloroalkli plants caused these diseases. We use science when it suits us and we become skeptics when it does not suit us. They know it is almost impossible to prove such cases in our legal system and they can get away scot-free. The same argument applies to our ‘Greenhouse gas emission’ and ‘Global warming’.

We contaminate  our air, water and earth with our population explosion, industrialization and our life styles. Yet, major industrialized countries are not willing to cut their emissions but want to carry on their ‘economic growth’. But these countries got it completely wrong. In chemical experiments, one can draw conclusions by ‘observations’ and ‘Inference’. Inference is a scientific tool and not a guess work. From overwhelming evidences of natural disasters occurring around the world one can ‘infer’ that human activities cause these disasters. Nature is now showing this by devastating ‘the business and economic’ interest of nations because that is the only way Governments can learn lessons. They don’t need ‘harder evidence’ than  monetary losses. According to recent reports:

“The monetary losses from 2011’s natural catastrophes reached a record $380 billion, surpassing the previous record of $220 billion set in 2005. The year’s three costliest natural catastrophes were the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan (costing $210 billion), the August-November floods in Thailand ($40 billion), and the February earthquake in New Zealand ($16 billion).

The report notes that Asia experienced 70 percent, or $265 billion, of the total monetary losses from natural disasters around the world—up from an average share of 38 percent between 1980 and 2010. This can be attributed to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as well as the devastating floods in Thailand: Thailand’s summer monsoons, probably influenced by a very intensive La Niña situation, created the costliest flooding to date, with $40 billion in losses.”

Water shortage drives the global warming

A safe and clean water supply is becoming a scarce commodity in many parts of the world. With growing   population and rapid industrialization, the demand for water has increased dramatically. This in turns pushes the demand for energy and fossil fuels resulting in further increase in global warming. According to WHO (World Health organization) specifications, a clean and safe water should be free from pathogenic organism such as bacteria and virus, and also the TDS (Total dissolved solids) levels should be below 500ppm (parts per million). Unfortunately such quality water is not readily available from surface or ground water. The water stored in catchment area for supply of drinking water to cities requires certain chemical and biological treatments before it can meet WHO specification.

In many smaller cities especially in developing countries such treated drinking water is not available. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Satellite or GRACE orbiting earth in tandem, two satellites are able to measure the water storage on ground and below across the world. The NASA data shows that most of area in Northern India will be facing a severe shortage of water in the near future because farmers are pumping ground water   at an alarming rate. The ground water is getting depleted faster than it is being replenished. The water table has gone deeper and deeper and many of the pumps they used five to ten years ago cannot pump water anymore because the water levels have gone so deep. States like Punjab, supposed to be ‘wheat bowl of India’ are facing water shortage. Farmers who have used 100 feet bore well are now digging their bore well up to 900 feet. To make the situation worse, many of coal-fired power plants are licensed to meet the increasing power demand in India. Both quantity and quality of water has a direct impact on energy demand and global warming. The rainwater which replenished the ground aquifers are unable to match the water sucked by these pumps. About 114 million people living in Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana including the capital city of Delhi are facing water shortage.

The likely alternative for these states is to desalinate the seawater from the west coast of India and pump them all the way to Delhi, which are thousand of kilometers from the coast. The increasing economic growth of India has increased the demand for power, often based on coal. Power industry is one of the largest users of water. Plants located on coastal are able to use seawater for their ‘once through’ cooling system and for boilers. But the plants located inland have to use only surface water like rivers. They cannot use ‘once through’ system, but use a closed circuit cooling systems where they have to store large pool of hard water.

It is a vicious cycle. Water shortage increase the demand for power and power shortage increases the demand for water. Desalination is the only alternative but it is a very energy intensive and a costly solution. Changing climate, global warming, deforestation, and water shortage are ominous signs of Nature’s fury against human greediness.

When countries like Australia set up their largest desalination facilities, the country experiences the heaviest rains in decades with flash flooding in many parts, making politicians wonder whether their water management decisions are right. Unfortunately Science cannot solve our greediness only human beings can learn lessons from Nature and take right decisions.

 

 

Solar panel to generate Hydrogen

Photovoltaic  solar energy  is becoming popular as a source of clean energy and an alternative to fossil fuels to combat climate change. Though the initial cost is expensive people have started realizing the potential of PV solar as  a real alternative to grid power, especially when they can export surplus power to the grid and earn some revenue. It is  a source of income for potential investors as the energy cost keeps rising steadily. The cost of solar panels, batteries and inverters are slowly coming down as the systems get more popular and more competition is created in the market. However, during cloudy days or when the solar hours are less, the power generation by solar panels is considerably low. Moreover, the ‘power in tariff ‘ system is not available in many countries especially in developing countries. Therefore, energy storage becomes an issue. Lead acid batteries serve as storage devices for smaller applications but it becomes expensive for lager systems. Operation and maintenance, replacement and waste disposal are some of the issues with battery storage.

Generating Hydrogen on site using solar power and storing Hydrogen under pressure in a tank is the best method of storing solar energy. The stored Hydrogen can be used to generate power using a Fuel cell as and when we need power. However, the amount of energy required to convert water into Hydrogen using Alkaline Electrolyzer or Solid Polymer Electrolyzer is still high, averaging 5-7 kwhrs/m3.When you calculate the economics of  Hydrogen storage versus battery storage using a computer modeling for a stand alone system, it is clear that Hydrogen storage is more economical and also guarantees an uninterrupted power supply using a Fuel cell.

One US company has developed a Carbon doped Titanium oxide nanopowder visible light photo catalyst to  generates Hydrogen using sun’s light energy. The company claims that it consumes only one-third of the power consumed by PEM Electrolyzer or half of an Alkaline Electrolyzer.It can be easily installed at roof tops and it can generate Hydrogen even at one-third of sunlight because it can effectively use short UV light and blue wave length of suns light because these energetic wavelengths penetrate cloud cover more effectively than the rest of sunlight. A 2mm modular solar panel can be installed on roof top or installed in multi-acre field installations. Even during the absence of sunlight the company claims it can use grid power to generate Hydrogen using its hybrid integral (MMO) Mixed metal oxide Titanium anode as efficiently as PEM Electrolyzer.

While a PEM electrolyzer generates about 1.3kg Hydrogen from a power input of 100Kwhrs, this model can generate about 2.5kg Hydrogen using MMO + TiO2 anode and about 3.8kg using TiO2 alone. (Based on higher heating value of Hydrogen at 39.4 kwhrs/kg).The panel consuming 26.7kwhr power at 1.0Volt DC current at Anode can generate 1.25kg Hydrogen with Electrolysis electrical efficiency at 148%.  This will make Hydrogen fuel a commercial reality because it will consume only 21.36 kwhrs of Dc power to generate 1 Kg Hydrogen. The generated Hydrogen can generate about 15 Kw power using a Fuel cell. This is an elegant solution to generate and store power using sun’s light than Photovoltaic power.

Recycling Carbon emission to Gasoline production

Nature has a wonderful way of capturing Carbon and recycling it through a process called ‘carbon cycle’ for millions of years. The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were restricted  within certain limits when it was left to Nature. But when human being started burning fossil fuels to generate power or to run cars, the GHG emission surpassed the limit beyond a point where global warming became an issue. The GHG level has increased to 392 ppm level for the first in our long history. Many Governments and companies are exploring various ways and means to reduce greenhouse emissions to avoid global warming. Some Governments are imposing taxes on carbon emission in order to reduce or discourage such emissions. Others are offering incentives to promote alternative energy sources such as wind and solar. Some companies are trying to capture Carbon emission for sequestration.

While we try to capture Carbon and store them underground, there are many potential commercial opportunities to recycle them. This means the Carbon emission is captured and converted into a commercial fuel such as Gasoline or Diesel or Methane so that future sources of fossil fuels are not burnt anymore. But this is possible only by using ‘Renewable Hydrogen’. Hydrogen is the key  to reduce carbon emission by binding carbon molecules with Hydrogen molecule, similar to what Nature does.

When NASA plans to send a man to Mars they have to overcome certain basic issues. Mars has an atmosphere with 95% Carbon dioxide, 3% Nitrogen, 1.6% Argon and traces of oxygen, water and methane.Nasa is planning to use Carbon dioxide to generate Methane gas to be used as a fuel and also generate water by using the following reaction.

CO2 + 4H2—–CH4 + 2 H2O

2H2O——-2H2 + O2

The water is electrolyzed to split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen using solar power. The resulting Hydrogen is reacted with Carbon dioxide from Mars to generate Methane gas and water using a solid catalyst. This methanation reaction is exothermic and self sustaining. How this can be achieved practically in Mars in those conditions are not discussed here. But this is a classical example on how the Carbon emission can be tackled to our advantages, without increasing the emissions into the atmosphere. There are several methods available to convert Carbon emission in to valuable products including gasoline. The  reaction of the methane with water vapor will result in Methanol.

2H2 + CO——– CH3OH

On Dehydration, 2CH3OH —– CH3COCH3 + H2O.Further dehydration with ZSM-5 Catalyst gives Gasoline 80% C5+ Hydrocarbon. Gas to liquid by Fischer-tropic reaction is a known process.

Carbon dioxide is also a potential refrigerant to substitute CFC refrigerants that causes Ozone depletion. Carbon recycling is a temporary solution to mitigate Greenhouse gas emission till Hydrogen becomes an affordable fuel of the future. It depends upon individual Governments and their policies to make Hydrogen affordable. Technologies are available and only a political will and leadership can make Hydrogen a reality.

Carbon-free air is a Human right issue

Environment Pollution Authority EPA of US Government regulated the gas emission standards for power plants for oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur in the past but not for GreenHouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. However when President Obama took over power, EPA passed ‘Clean Air Act’ to regulate the emission standards of all gases including GHG for new stationary power plants. This act projected to prevent over 230,000 early deaths in US alone by 2020 due to Carbon dioxide. According to this act,

1.  Starting in January 2011, large industrial facilities that must already obtain Clean Air Act permits for non-GHGs must also include GHG requirements in these permits if these increase are newly constructed and have the potential to emit 75,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) or more or modify and increase GHG emissions by that amount.

2.  Starting in July 2011, in addition to facilities described above, all new facilities emitting GHGs in excess of 100,000 tons of per year CO2e and facilities making changes that would increase GHG emissions by at least 75,000 tpy CO2e, and that also exceed 100/250 tons per year of GHGs on a mass basis, will be required to obtain construction permits that address GHG emissions (regardless of whether they emit enough non-GHG pollutants to require a permit for those emissions.)

3.  Operating permits will be needed by all sources that emit at least 100,000 tons of GHG per year on a CO2e basis beginning in July 2011.

4. Sources less than 50,000 tons of GHGs per year on a CO2e basis will not be required to obtain permits for GHGs before 2016. (Sources: clean technica)

According to Stanford scientist Mark Jacobson, there is a definite link between the Carbon dioxide and increasing deaths. While the argument continues between believers of global warming and skeptics, it clear that Carbon pollution kills people without any discrimination. Any gaseous emission into the atmosphere will eventually spread across the borders of each country and becomes a global issue.

EPA in each country in the world should pass similar legislation to curb GHG emission at least to protect their people, if not to curtail global warming. What is most surprising is some scientists still want more ‘scientific data’ to accept whether GHG causes global warming or not. One need not be a rocket scientist to conclude that chemical pollution is slowly poisoning the air, water and earth. Hundreds of chemicals that we used in the past were abandoned due to their harmful effects. For example, Asbestos,DDT,Chlorine for disinfecting drinking water, coal tar dyes, Nicotine, Refrigerants like Fluorocarbon etc to name a few. We can choose to ignore the warnings of Nature and carry on the business as usual in the name of science. But we cannot ignore people claiming their legitimate rights to live and breathe a quality air to lead a normal life. It is a human right issue. It is not an issue that can be debated only by scientific community and decided.

WHO should classify ‘Quality air’ as a fundamental human right with great urgency. Governments around the world can pass ‘Clean air act’ similar to US. They may not levy carbon tax or offer new incentives to promote green energy, but regulate the indiscriminate emission of GHG into the atmosphere, which passively kills millions of people around the world. This is nothing but ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in a passive way, but on a grander scale. When ‘passive smoking’ is a serious health issue, Carbon emission too is a  serious health issue. It is the duty of industries to incorporate carbon pollution prevention measures by scientific innovations.