Researchers: Building a "solar methanol island" may prevent climate warming

On June 5th, the US media reported that scientists said that millions of floating islands that can convert carbon dioxide into fuel may help prevent the climate from being affected by fossil fuel burning activities. According to a report on the website of Newsweek in the United States on June 3, in a paper published in the monthly journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team from Norway and Switzerland put forward proposals to build a “solar methanol island”.

The paper said that most of the technology required to build these facilities now exists. Large-scale construction of such floating islands in the seas that are not affected by heavy waves and extreme weather can greatly reduce the demand for fossil fuels, thereby controlling the next few decades The degree of global warming.

They wrote: "If we want to avoid dangerous climate change, humans must stop emitting carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels ... This new method uses renewable energy, recycling carbon dioxide to convert it into synthetic fuel Energy concept without CO2 emissions. "

The floating island proposed by the researchers in the paper is similar to a large floating fish farm. They can use photovoltaic cells to convert solar energy into electrical energy, and then provide electricity for producing hydrogen from seawater and extracting carbon dioxide from seawater. The resulting gas will react to produce methanol that can be reused as fuel. They wrote: "Methanol fuel can be easily shipped to end consumers."

The research team claims that 70 such artificial islands can constitute a facility covering an area of ​​about 1 square kilometer. These facilities can be placed in sea areas with wave heights below 7 meters. The probability of hurricanes in such waters is very small, the water depth is less than 600 meters, and the man-made island can be safely moored. Researchers have found locations where such facilities can be placed all over the world, particularly the coasts of South America, Australia and Southeast Asia.

The research team said that there is still some distance to start production. Currently, they are working hard to develop a prototype of the floating island.

Plastic Floor

Qingdao Bosheng building materials Co., Ltd , https://www.worldcrestbm.com