Making ethanol from CO2 at ORNL sparks considerable interest

In the Secret City, the not-so-secret passwords of “carbon dioxide” and “ethanol,” combined with a press release and video sent out at the same time, triggered intense media coverage last fall of an “accidental” discovery at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  The ORNL video went viral, with a quarter million views the first week after its release (as well as more than 100,000 views since then). You can play the YouTube video by searching for “ethanol ORNL video.”  An article based on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory release became Popular Mechanics’ most popular story of the year. And ORNL researchers were interviewed on NPR, CBS, NBC and CNBC — while other news sources such as Wired and Time magazines highlighted the discovery.That’s what happened in mid-October when the media learned that Adam Rondinone and a dozen colleagues at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences accidentally made the fuel ethanol from carbon dioxide ... or CO2.Rondinone told this story and explained the science behind the discovery and its possible applications during a recent talk to Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (FORNL). The research was published in 2016 in ChemistrySelect.Scientists have linked surging emissions of CO2, a greenhouse gas, to increased warming of the atmosphere and planet, potentially causing devastating climate change. Ethanol, currently made from corn, has been blended into gasoline for a decade in the United States. CO2 released when ethanol is burned in vehicles is offset by the CO2 captured when corn is grown.