Scientists have found a way to turn carbon dioxide into motor fuel



This cheap technology is able to turn carbon dioxide into fuel

Scientists have found a way to turn carbon dioxide into motor fuel

Scientists are working on a new method of creating carbon-neutral fuel, and it sounds like an excerpt from a sci – Fi book.

 

The idea may sound like an environmentalist’s dream: a plant that sucks carbon dioxide from the air (it must be cheap in construction and operation) and turns it into fuel that can be used for cars and planes. But, it turns out, it’s a real project developed by scientists from Harvard University and the company “Carbon Engineering” funded by bill gates. If the new process will be implemented successfully in real scale, it will mean a turning point in saving the green planet and “optimistic” future for the next generations, because the climate through technology will not change for the worse.

In 2011, according to experts, the removal metric tonnes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would cost at least $ 600. New approach could reduce the required total to 94 dollars. The new technology relies mainly on already existing processes and methods used on an industrial scale in cooling towers and paper mills.

Scientists have found a way to turn carbon dioxide into motor fuel

The method includes 3 main steps:

First, atmospheric air is drawn into a special tank factory and is exposed to alkaline fluids.

Here, when the air enters into the interaction of the solution, it turns into an aqueous solution containing carbon dioxide. The plant mixture undergoes a series of chemical reactions which gradually separate the base from the acid technique is commonly used in paper mills.

Thirdly, carbon dioxide is combined with hydrogen and is converted into liquid fuel, including for automobiles and airplanes (this means that someday the company will be able to produce truly carbon-neutral fuels for cars). Researchers are optimistic and hope to develop this technology.

 

Scientists have already tested it at the pilot plant in Squamish, British Columbia (Canada). The team is now looking for financial assistance for the construction of the industrial version of the plant. If the experiment proves successful, it could be the solution to one of the most difficult problems – problems of decarbonization in such industries as: boiling steel and cement manufacturing or long-range air transportation.

The removal of CO2 will be from three to five percent of global GDP (at $ 100 per ton of carbon dioxide). “This puts upper bound on how expensive can be the solution to the climate problem, because there are many ways to reduce emissions for less than $ 100 per ton,” said Ken Caldeira, a senior researcher at the Carnegie institution for science in the Atlantic.