This Company Makes Fuel Out Of Thin Air….

Mankind has been experimenting with numerous kinds of alternative sources of energy and so far, electric power has been the most successful, at least to a certain extent. However, that hasn’t stopped others to continue studying the possibility of making alternative fuels from the environment. One such company has figured out a way to make fuel out of thin air, so to speak. Enter Carbon Engineering.

Founded in 2009, Carbon Engineering is a Canadian company that has developed a device that can capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from air which can then be processed in a way to generate fuel. In fact, this company has been capturing CO2 since 2015 as a part of its pilot project and intends to deploy its system commercially by 2021.

This system broadly consists of two parts. In the first part, Carbon Engineering captures carbon dioxide, using a structure with giant fans, modelled similar to an industrial cooling tower. This pulls air and it passes through surfaces coated with potassium hydroxide solution. This chemical bonds with carbon dioxide from the air and results in the formation of a carbonate salt. The carbon dioxide and the salt are separated via a number of chemical reactions and then pure CO2 is released in the form of a gas. Carbon Engineering calls this technology Direct Air Capture.

Water is essentially hydrogen and oxygen but splitting the two compounds using a conventional process like electrolysis is extremely expensive. Not to mention, it requires high amounts of electricity. Carbon Engineering says it uses renewable electricity for this purpose so that it is carbon neutral. The hydrogen split from water is then combined with the carbon dioxide to produce synthetic crude oil.

This is then refined and then processed into petrol, diesel or even jet fuel. The best bit is that the company claims the fuel will work on vehicles without needing any sort of modifications. Not just this, it is also claimed to have a higher cetane rating than conventionally refined fossil fuels, which should help them burn cleaner.

Also Read: Eco-friendly Electric Oil Tanker: Soon To Be A Reality

This whole system could take a few more years to be optimised and made reasonably well-priced but it isn’t entirely impossible. It goes to show that technology is indeed the answer to a cleaner, greener earth.