Published in the summer 2010 issue of MyLIFE magazine
A breakthrough technology to recycle carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into gasoline and other types of fuel is being developed and could soon be produced on an industrial scale.
In the first quarter of 2009, Carbon Sciences unveiled a prototype facility in Santa Barbara, Calif. “We took the carbon dioxide as a feedstock and, through a biocatalyst process, we turned it into methanol,” said Byron Elton, Carbon Sciences’ CEO, in an interview with MyLIFE.
This was a starting point for Carbon Sciences, but it was not a new concept. Elton’s team reproduced the process in a laboratory, taking carbon dioxide in a low-pressure, low-temperature environment and turning it into methanol. “When we did it initially, it presented one of the first challenges that anybody that pursues this path of creating fuel encounters—the kinetics … the time that it takes,” Elton said. He quickly found that the reaction could take anywhere from eight to 10 hours. “At that point, it becomes commercially unviable,” he added.
Elton’s team of researchers, led by Dr. Naveed Aslam, began looking into ways to dramatically reduce the reaction time so it could become industrially viable. He also looked into the enzyme-based biocatalyst process—how to take the carbon from the carbon dioxide and the hydrogen from the water and through the biocatalyst process, to get the enzyme molecules to produce hydrocarbon quickly and efficiently. “The issue has always been that while [enzymes] are good at what they do, they don’t last very long. And they have to be replenished after a few cycles,” Elton explained. “They become depleted or exhausted, and it becomes a very expensive process.
Dr. Aslam was able to connect the dots on reaction time and the life of the enzyme molecules. His invention, a nano-scale reactor called Smart Particle Technology introduces a low-energy, enzyme-based biocatalyst process, and a proprietary enzyme encapsulation technology increases the life of key enzymes to reduce the cost of fuel production. “This is a data-generation stage. We will be putting a pilot together sometime by next September,” Dr. Aslam noted. The pilot will attempt to prove that not only can this be done in a laboratory setting, but also on a larger scale.
Because of the impact of this technology, Carbon Sciences has met with prominent companies from around the world to potentially form partnerships, Elton told MyLIFE. “These are people that have significant facilities around the world … large CO2 emitters, in some cases coal plants and refineries. They are very interested in being a partner in the full-scale pilot.”
Carbon Sciences’ technology is ambitious, and its timetable is aggressive. Elton hopes that by the end of the year a partnership will be announced and a commercial package will be available to a partner. He estimated that by the end of 2011 a completed facility could be fully operational and producing fuel.
