A RATHER INTERESTING IDEA (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/20aug_supercriticalco2.htm?list961667)

Supercritical CO2 might also be used to generate water. Certain martian rocks (like some of Earth's rocks) contain hydrogen. When these rocks are submerged in supercritical carbon dioxide, a chemical reaction takes place. The CO2's carbon becomes "fixed" in the rock, leaving the oxygen free to find another partner: hydrogen. "The process kicks out water," marvels Debelak. "You can actually use it to form water." Pulling water from rocks will probably have the biggest payoff, at least in the short term, says Debelak. In addition to drinking, "you can split water into hydrogen for fuel, and oxygen for breathing--or as an oxidizer for some sort of engine." Eventually, colonists could set up plants that use CO2 from the martian atmosphere to process hundreds of kilograms of raw material a day.

"When CO2 is compressed to a pressure of 73 atm and heated to 31.1 degrees Celsius, it becomes a supercritical fluid--and a marvelous solvent," says Debelak.

I wonder if Supercritical CO2 is used on Earth by any industries?

http://www.chem.tue.nl/spd/default.htm

http://www.nal.usda.gov/ttic/tektran/data/000010/54/0000105421.html

http://www.tempresstech.com/CO2.htm

http://www-emtd.lanl.gov/TD/Science/MicelleFormationSCCO2.html


Also, reclaiming industrial wastes, dry cleaners agent, cafeine extraction etc...

As you can see, the potential for scCO2 is huge, it just need some more research and adoption by some industries...


BTW: if we can fix CO2 to rocks on Mars we surely could do it on earth where we have this Major Co2 problem ????

Let's export our Co2 to dry third world countries and extract water for their use from their rocks , meanwhile assisting in "fixing" the global Co2 problem ???

Also this generated water could be fed to desert greenhouses that grow tomatoes for example, these greenhouse can be fed with additional (not supercritical) Co2 to speed up production. This would double the bang for the Co2 bucks.

Does it mean there'll soon be life on mars?

Originally posted by curioucity
Does it mean there'll soon be life on mars?

Well it is an enticing idea to colonize Mars, but it very expensive at this point to do such but this supercritical CO2 sounds like a very feasable idea to put into practice.