Scientists Successfully Turn CO2 Into Jet Fuel

Planes use a lot of fuel to power themselves, and in turn the fuel they use is burned and CO2 is given off, which has contributed to climate change. Airline companies have tried to offset this by planting more trees or setting up wind farms, but is that enough? Could there be a better way to approach this problem?

According to a team of scientists at Oxford University, maybe there is. This is because through an experimental process, the team of scientists have managed to take CO2, also known as carbon dioxide, and turned it into jet fuel. This is thanks to the use of an iron-based chemical reaction that could potentially result in a “net zero” of emissions from airplanes.

However, it should be noted that the experiment was conducted in a laboratory setting, meaning that how it works on a larger scale still remains to be seen, but the scientists who designed the process are hopeful about their discovery. The idea is that this could help capture and remove excessive CO2 from the environment and turn it into something useful.

It would also be a cheaper alternative to hydrogenization, which takes hydrogen and water and turns it into fuel. The hope is that this process can be scaled up from producing miniscule amounts of fuel in a lab setting to a larger plant.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Green
Tags: Science, Social Hit