Comment on Terraform Industries actually created synthetic methane from sunlight, water, and air
poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
This has the same problem as CO2 capture technologies, that is the relatively low CO2 concentration in the air.
The only way to make this even remotely feasible are end of pipe solutions where you directly capture the exhaust of a fossile fuel combustion process. But that in turn is at best a temporary band aid.
photon_echo@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
You’re correct that the CO2 concentration in atmospheric air is low: 0.04%. Consider the following:
I would agree with you this would be a waste of time if the goal was CO2 sequestration, but it isn’t. The goal is to use otherwise 100% wasted electricity to produce something useful that can be stored long term that there is a market for, in this case methane.
What is your definition of “feasible” here? Economically compared to fossil based methane? Volume of production?
The company agrees with you. They called out that being able to direct capture pure CO2 from an industrial application would be ideal, but as they also concluded, thats not where the excess electricity is that is really the primary economic driver of this technique.
poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 days ago
Economically feasible compared to other option what to use the excess electricity for, even when you factor in remote location issues.
photon_echo@slrpnk.net 2 days ago
What are the other options you see for the excess electricity that would be more feasible than this methane approach?
poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 days ago
Pretty much anything one can think off because this methane production from normal air is so incredibly inefficient.
The most obvious alternative would be to use the abundant nitrogen from the air and produce ammonia with it, which is both an energy storage and an important precursor for artificial fertilizer production.