Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a steel - new gimmick designed to capture atomic number 6 dioxide straight off from the air and wrench it into fuel – and it does so with only the mightiness of the Sun .
Direct air carbon paper capture is far from a unexampled idea , but time has yet to solve all of itsproblems . One of the significant issues is that it ’s high-priced , not just financially but energetically too ; if it has to swear on the more readily available fossil fuel , that somewhat bedevil a wrench in the whole kit and boodle of the whole sustainability thing .
“ Aside from the disbursal and the zip strength , [ Carbon Capture and Storage ] provides an excuse to carry on burn fossil fuels , which is what caused the mood crisis in the first position , ” say Professor Erwin Reisner , who heads up a Cambridge lab developing sustainable energy engineering , in astatement .
How the reactor works.Kar et al.,Nature Energy 2025(CC BY 4.0)
Reisner and his squad essay to find a solution , and what they landed on was animate by a natural process : photosynthesis . like to how plants need only sunlight as the energy source for commute carbon dioxide and water into O and refined sugar , their new nuclear reactor gadget is also exclusively solar - powered .
The reactor is mean to work diurnally . The first step learn blank space at night , with the gadget capturing carbon dioxide directly from the aviation using specialized filter made out of a solid silicon dioxide - aminoalkane adsorbent .
affair then stir up up during the day ; a mirror concentrate sunlight onto the bed of capturedcarbon dioxide , releasing it into another part of the twist that stop a bottom of semiconductor gunpowder and triggering a chemic reaction that converts the carbon dioxide into syngas .
Syngas is short for synthesis gas , and though it can be used as a fuel itself , the squad is aim to find a path of converting it into a more widely useful liquid fuel – and to make their design even bigger .
“ If we made these equipment at scale , they could solve two problems at once : remove CO2 from the atmosphere and creating a clean alternative to fossil fuel , ” enjoin Dr Sayan Kar , first source of the work providing the details of the nuclear reactor . “ CO2 is take in as a harmful permissive waste product , but it is also an opportunity . ”
If they ’re successful in their efforts , the squad suggests that it present an opportunity tomove away from fogy fuelsand produce fuel that could be wide accessible and truly sustainable .
“ or else of uphold to grasp up and burn fossil fuel to raise the ware we have add up to rely on , we can get all the CO2 we need directly from the air and recycle it , ” said Reisner . “ We can build up a round , sustainable economy – if we have the political will to do it . ”
The study is published inNature Energy .
