From Greenhouse Gas to Fuel

Category: Science & Technology
Posted: June 7, 2012 06:58AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

As some seek to reduce it others work to use greenhouse gases. Such is the case at the Weizmann Institute of Science where researchers developed a way to use concentrated solar power to break carbon dioxide (CO₂) into carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen, and water into hydrogen and oxygen. The resulting mix of CO and hydrogen, also known as Syngas, can be used as a gaseous fuel or converted into a liquid fuel, like methanol.

Thus far the Weizmann method has been successful in laboratory trials, but Greenearth Energy Ltd., an Australian company, is building an industrial scale version of the technology. The company hopes to use it to make the brown coal deposits in south-eastern Australia accessible. The high CO₂ emissions from brown coal had made it off limits, but perhaps by using the emissions this fuel source can be responsibly tapped.

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