OK, here we go folks!
This is the first, official site to start logging your ideas for THE GREAT
CO2 HACK
Yes, we’re all going to Hell in a hand-basket, with a large part of the population still claiming that nothing untoward is happening. And, since this is mankind’s first attempt at suicide, we may not get it right. I’m betting we will though. Well maybe the Earth would be better off without us, but there sure are a lot of other critters out there that deserve to go on doing what they do without pulling down the curtain on everyone else.
With that in mind.
I’d like to see someone crack CO2 on a huge,
MASSIVE
GLOBAL
scale.
Oxygen is pretty cool stuff and get this –
I want the carbon.
What for?
Silly question but I’ll give you a serious answer.
For the Space Elevator, natch.
No, I’m not changing the subject. A Space Elevator would need Carbon. Billions and billions of tons of Carbon Nanotubes. And guess what? We’re going to be generating billions and billions of tons of 100% pure Carbon just waiting to be bred into nanotubes.
What’s not to love?
Not being any kind of Bright, I enlisted a 13 year-old friend to do the math for me. This is the five-minute rough-cut of energies and it’s now up to crowd-sourcing to come up with the rest.
===Han's Changes===
Bond energies in kJ/mol:
C=O 805
O=O 498
to convert 1mol CO2 into 1mol C(g) and 1mol O2, I need to break 2 C=O and
create 1 O=O
so that's 498 - 2*805 = -1112 kJ/mol
now i want this in kWh/kg:
1mol of CO2 is .044kg
so 1kg CO2 is 22.27 mol
1112kJ/mol * 22.27mol/kg=24,764kJ/kg
according to google, conv that to kWh yeilds just 6.87888889kWh/kg CO2
at 8cents a kwh, thats 55cents a kilogram
===Ed's Changes===
Bond energies in kJ/mol:
C=O 805
O=O 498
to convert 1mol CO2 into 1mol C(g) and 1mol O2,
I need to break 2 C=O and create 1 O=O
so that's 498 - 2*805 = -1112 kJ/mol
now i want this in kWh/kg:
1mol of CO2 is
c is .012 kg/mol, and o is .016
.016+.016+.012 is wat,
.03+.014, right?
with adds to .044kg/mol CO2
now 1/.044=22.27
which means there are 22.27 mol co2 in a kilogram of co2
it takes 1112 kJ to conv a mol of co2 into o2 and carbon vapr,
wich would condense into, under the right conditions, into
nanotubes
1112kJ/mol times 22.27 mol/kg co2 is...
we gotta use 24,764kJ to conv the carbon
now lemme see wat that is in kWh (means more to u)
hmmm
10:49 PM Han: tellya wat
c is .012 kg/mol, and o is .016
10:50 PM .016+.016+.012 is wat,
.03+.014, right?
with adds to .044kg/mol CO2
me: bueno
10:51 PM Han: now 1/.044=22.27
10:52 PM which means there are 22.27 mol co2 in a kilogram of co2
10:53 PM but wat does it mean
it means...hm
10:54 PM thats it. i calced that it takes 1112 kJ to conv a mol of co2 into o2 and carbon vapr,
me: carbon vapor?
Han: wich would condense into, under the right conditions, into nanotubes
10:55 PM me: I figured on just selling the carbon to the c-tube people and let them deal with "conditions"
10:56 PM Han: now 1112kJ/mol times 22.27 mol/kg co2 is...
lol the co2 vapor would automatically condense into graphite anyway
though we could sell the ultrapure grafite too
lol
anyway...
10:57 PM we gotta use 24,764kJ to conv the carbon
now lemme see wat that is in kWh (means more to u)
10:58 PM me: OK at $.06 kwh, how much is that?
10:59 PM Han: 6.87889 kWh
then multiplied by, wat, .06?
me: da
Han: hm
11:00 PM $.04per kg of CO2
sounds lucrative
until u consider the megatons of co2 supposedly polluting the planet this minute
me: something desperately wrong here
Han: lol thats wat i think too
me: this is way, way too cheap
11:01 PM Han: 6cents a kilowathour doesnt sound righ
lemme record this in the notebook, maybe i'll find some errors that way
11:02 PM me: my bill 313Kwh = $2412
11:03 PM 24.12
hope
Han: thats 8cents
me: $.11430 Kwh
11:04 PM Han: becomes 55cents a kg
me: I'm sure it's cheaper to pump it underground then
11:05 PM but i wonder what pure C is going for?
Han: cmon we wont get pure c unless we get pure co2
11:06 PM and how on earth we gona get pure co2
?
me: well they seem to have something in mind if they're going to be pumping it underground
11:07 PM Han: might possible be cheaper
me: I'll start looking into what they've got planned that way
Han: its not actly gonna be possible to just dot eh calcs like the way i did
theres lots more to it
me: I wonder if we should be patenting this scheme?
Han: just theoretically, the min energy is that
llol
doubt were the first
11:08 PM me: Yes, I realize there would be LOTS of energy overhead but still ...
11:09 PM Han: thats half a dollar a kilogram
i bet theres somewhat more than a kilogram of surplus co2
11:10 PM maybe even megaton range
me: ?? whatch mean surplus?
Han: dude i got chinese hw
me: right
bye
Han: mebe surplus aint right word
bye
Right. Back to you People.
Needless to
say, I don’t know WTF he’s talking about, but something along these lines is
possible. Especially now that a couple of Bright Persons, seem to have done
something similar (to me, at least.)
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/07/reverse-fuel-ce.html
So there it is folks! All that’s needed now is:
One or Several Bright Persons
A Wiki
A Webmaster
Oh yeah - MONEY!!
The Google and X-Prize people are running around coughing up $10,000,000 at a time for their gigs, but WE can offer way more than that. How about if everyone that wants one of these gizmos to fight Global Warming kicks in a buck? Don't ya think that there are more than 10 million people that care about the climate? Just think; if we could come up with a smallish box thingy with solar cells on the top, just working it's little butt off. Now think billions of them. While you're at it, imagine really, really BIG ones too. Does that put a smile on your face?
So get crackin', damn it!
Of course, we'll hope that the basics will be kept open source, but the individual boxes (a Naming Contest! Auction the naming rights!) could be sponsored by Corporations looking for Green brownie points (does that phrase make sense?).
credits to Ying Han Wei for his math
Here's a MUCH more understandable video of the Bright Persons at MIT
http://chemicalexplorers.blip.tv/#1150780
thanks to Stephen Lyons for the linky
Ready to help out?