TITLE:
Squandering Carbon Must Lead to Economic Failure
AUTHORS:
Stefan Petters, Kalvin Tse, Yong Cao, Klaus Mauthner
KEYWORDS:
Ambient Resources, Atmospheric Carbon Stock, Carbohydrates, Carbon Capture, Carbon Efficiency, Carbon-Neutrality, Hydrocarbons, Hydrogen, Ethylene Synthesis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
16,
2016
ABSTRACT: In a world that
consumes resources faster than our nature can reproduce them we need to adopt
more and more re-use practices—particularly urgent for contemporary Carbon.
Using Fossils is an import of pre-historic Carbon into present age and we keep
doing it because end of lifecycle carbonaceous resources are either used for
energy recovery only, or dumped to rot. In any case, Carbon is disposed into
Atmospheric Carbon Stock. Carbohydrates contain carbon [C], hydrogen [H], and
oxygen [O], mostly in a ratio of CnH2nOn and
store bio-energy and genetic information controlling the flow of chemical
energy through metabolism. Hydrocarbons on the other hand are chemical
compounds that consist only of the elements carbon and hydrogen. Both are
formed by a carbon skeleton having hydrogen atoms attached to that backbone. At
2H2:1C ratio 55% stored che- mical energy stems from Hydrogen and
45% from the Carbon. If burned for energy recovery, the Hydrogen content forms
water vapor, but its Carbon carrier discards CO2 into atmosphere as
if it was a one-way pack. Why not Capture Carbon physically for new Hydrocarbon
Synthesis’ Use prior to direct electrochemical Energy Recovery from Hydrogen
rather than today’s three step Power generation (—heat—mechanical power motion
energy—electricity—). For example for bottom-up Ethylene Synthesis physically
Captured Carbon replaces 2 ltr crude oil per kg ethylene output. At a similar
Energy Yield, only reduced by the CO2 transformation losses of the
Carbon Capture process, the Captured Carbon can be additionally used as a
resource at arms’ length market prices, adding to Cost-effectiveness and making
the Energy more economic at an increased Environmental Performance due to
increased Carbon Efficiency.