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A Chemical Reaction That Could Level CO2 Emissions and Generate Power

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A transmission electron microscopy image of carbon nitride created by the reaction of carbon dioxide and Li3N.

A chemical reaction that turns carbon dioxide into a solid and on the top of it, releases energy, has been discovered by a Michigan Technological University researcher and could revolutionize how we sequester the powerful greenhouse gas to our advantage.

So far, people trying to put CO2 molecules together did it by adding energy, which had usually been taken from more fossil fuels, so more carbon dioxide was used.

Yun Hang Hu, on the other hand, discovered that reacting carbon dioxide with Li3N (lithium nitride) results in amorphous carbon nitride (C3N4), which could be used as a semiconductor in solar cells, for example, and  lithium cyanamide (Li2CN2), which can be used in making agricultural fertilizers.

As if this wasn’t enough, the miracle reaction releases extra energy in huge amounts. A gram of lithium nitride reacting with CO2 at 330 degrees Celsius produces so much energy that the temperature of the mixture almost instantly jumps to 1,000 degrees Celsius – enough to melt mostly anything in its path.

I suspect this reaction won’t remain unnoticed by the scientific community and by those who dedicated their entire life to designing carbon sequestration systems. We could eventually add lithium nitride to our cars and give them more power with the help of the carbon dioxide they emit, as we also have the proper temperature to do that.

Is that nice or what?

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Because if carbon dioxide was no longer a problem we could still use oil. This is not the intension behind the global warming or climate change agenda. The wealth of the world must be redistributed to equal the playing field. Industrial countries must pay less developed countries for being successful in building their economies. Of course these countries are poor because they are mired in civil war and dictatorships and there are no clear leaders or single purpose shared. Most ideas that point to a solution to a situation that is being exploited for economic gain will not see much light. Solutions are mothballed until the emergency has been milked for every economic and social agenda that can benefit from it. Much like the cure for diabetes the cure has been around for some time but the introduction of it to the market would destroy the test meter industry as well as the drug companies etc, etc,. I know how this sounds but the the truth wont see much light either. We are all caught up in a cycle of greed and gullable populations who dont pay attention. It is harder and harder to see a future for the species in general.

  2. Why hasn’t there been any kind of funding so that a more detailed study can be conducted, I would think that this discovery would have been anticipated and would have applied for funding prior to this point so papers could be written and fuirther study done

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