Carbon Dioxide can be Transformed into Useful Gas
Carbon dioxide, which has earned a bad reputation as a greenhouse gas, is getting a good name, it can used as industrial feedstock and clean burning biofuel. Scientist at the Singapore’s Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology had developed a way to convert carbon dioxide into a more useful product methanol. They used an organocatalyst to transform carbon dioxide into methanol. Organocatalysts are composed of nonmetallic elements found in organic compounds. They normally do not contain toxic heavy metals and can be produced easily without high costs.
The organocatalyst that the IBN scientist used was called N-heterocyclic carbenes, or NHC. NHC’s are stable catalysis even in the presence of oxygen. This is contrast to the property of many heavy metal catalysts that contain toxic and unstable components. The reaction of carbon dioxide to this novel organocatalyst took place under mild condition in dry air.
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