Tired of getting ready for Christmas? Me too. So I inform you as briefly as I can about a great thing: scientists in Oxford have just figured out a way to convert carbon dioxide into jet fuel. So far, they have only tested the process in a laboratory, but there is already talk in the foreign media about a potential breakthrough. Whether it is possible, they will show tests on a larger scale.
In a laboratory where a few milliliters of the substance was produced, the carbon dioxide came from the container. But scientists predict that jet fuel plants could be built next to a steel or cement factory or a coal-fired power plant – and capture carbon dioxide there. The process, however, may also involve drawing CO2 higher out of the atmosphere.
Scientists say the new method would be cheaper than other similar methods – mainly because it would use less electricity.
“It could work,” says Joshua Heyne, an associate professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at Dayton University, who was not involved in the experiment. – Scaling up is always a problem, and as you go larger, new surprises arise. But when it comes to a long-term solution, the idea of a circular carbon economy is definitely something that could be the future, he adds.
The Wired emphasizes that the new fuel will likely have to compete with many other applicants already being tested as a replacement for traditional jet fuel. These fuels are produced, for example, from straw, wood biomass, and even … used cooking oil (this process is being tested by the energy giant – BP).
Currently, airplanes emit about 2% of greenhouse gases. It is predicted that by 2050 it will be several times more. Unless new opportunities revolutionize the market and flying will become neutral for the planet.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/could-carbon-dioxide-be-turned-into-jet-fuel/?fbclid=IwAR2pso1suM7-QVjJ-IHKpAZ0eDtYF5tUOfifZCp79UCdCX7I9dNP_hrODTY https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20214-z?fbclid=IwAR1Epb2-HyMC8PWYPmmB1Pcc7UKSyBzjlnhBD5LwKKfZ4H2lMbEgm8Kqu9s