Researchers at Oxford University turned carbon dioxide into fuel for aircraft in their laboratory using a new iron-based catalyst, a method they hope could eventually be used to reduce the carbon footprint of air travel.
Oxford chemist Tiancun Xiao and colleagues published their study in Nature Communications on Tuesday.
“Climate change is accelerating and we have huge emissions of carbon dioxide,” he told Wired Xiao, a senior researcher in the Oxford Department of Chemistry and author of the newspaper.
“The hydrocarbon fuel infrastructure is already there. This process could help alleviate climate change and use current carbon infrastructure for sustainable development. “
Using the organic combustion method, the researchers added heat to citric acid, hydrogen, and a catalyst of iron, manganese, and potassium to the CO2, producing liquid that would feed a jet. But they could only produce a few grams of the substance.
“This looks different and it looks like it could work,” Joshua Heyne, an associate professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at the University of Dayton, told Wired. “Enlargement is always a problem and there are new surprises when it comes to a larger scale. But when it comes to a long-term solution, the idea of a circular carbon economy is definitely something that could be the future. ”
The carbon footprint of the airline industry currently accounts for 12% of all transport-related CO2 emissions.
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