Scientists from Cambridge have created a reactor that captures carbon dioxide directly from the air and transforms it into sustainable fuel. This is done using solar energy as a source.
The scientists claim that their solar reactor could be used to produce fuel for cars and airplanes, or for the production of numerous essential chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Additionally, it could generate fuel in remote areas or off the electric grid.
Unlike most carbon capture technologies, the reactor developed by the Cambridge researchers does not require energy based on fossil fuels, nor the transportation and storage of CO2, but rather converts atmospheric carbon dioxide into something useful through sunlight. The results have been published in the journal Nature Energy.
Innovation in CO2 capture and conversion
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been proposed as a possible solution to the climate crisis. However, it consumes a lot of energy and there are concerns about the long-term safety of pressurized CO2 storage deep underground, although safety studies are currently underway.
“In addition to cost and energy intensity, CCS provides an excuse to continue burning fossil fuels, which is what caused the climate crisis in the first place,” said Professor Erwin Reisner, who led the research, in a statement. “CCS is also a non-circular process, as pressurized CO2 is stored, at best, underground indefinitely, where it is of no use to anyone.”
“What if instead of storing carbon dioxide underground, we transformed it into something useful?” expressed lead author Dr. Sayan Kar from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at Cambridge. “CO2 is a harmful greenhouse gas, but it can also be converted into useful chemicals without contributing to global warming.”
Reisner’s research group focuses on developing devices that convert waste, water, and air into practical fuels and chemicals. These devices are inspired by photosynthesis: the process by which plants convert sunlight into food. They do not use any external energy: no cables or batteries; all they need is solar energy.
How the reactor works to generate sustainable fuel
The team’s latest system captures CO2 directly from the air and converts it into syngas: a key intermediate in the production of many chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
The researchers claim that their approach, which does not require transportation or storage, is much easier to scale up than previous solar-powered devices.
The device, a solar-powered flow reactor, uses specialized filters to capture CO2 from the air at night, similar to how a sponge absorbs water.
When daylight comes, the captured CO2 is heated by sunlight, absorbing infrared radiation, and a semiconductor powder absorbs ultraviolet radiation to initiate a chemical reaction that converts the captured CO2 into solar syngas. A mirror in the reactor concentrates the sunlight, making the process more efficient.
The researchers are currently working on converting solar syngas into liquid fuels, which could be used to power cars, airplanes, and more, without adding more CO2 to the atmosphere.
“If we were to build these devices on a large scale, they could solve two problems simultaneously: removing CO2 from the atmosphere and creating a clean alternative to fossil fuels,” commented Kar. “CO2 is considered a harmful waste, but it is also an opportunity.”
The researchers highlight that a particularly promising opportunity lies in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector, where syngas can be converted into many of the products we use daily, without contributing to climate change. They are developing a larger-scale version of the reactor and hope to begin testing it in the spring.
If expanded, the researchers claim that their reactor could be used decentralized, allowing people to generate their own sustainable fuel, which would be useful in remote areas or off the electric grid.
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