Chemists Just Figured Out a Way to Turn CO2 Into Jet Fuel

[Tom]

Looking at this as a fuel thing.  How much impact would it be for doing the same for IC engines.  I'm thinking this would be huge.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/airlines/a35121199/chemists-turn-co2-into-jet-fuel/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_pop&utm_medium=email&date=010521&utm_campaign=nl22505908&src=nl

[DougG]

Hi Tom,                                                                                                      1-6-21

Yup, green plants have been doing this stuff for almost ever.  Now we have updated the process...bubbling carbon dioxide through a suspension containing algae and phytoplankton.  It works and has been done for decades in labs.  It not only creates biomass (stuff we can process and eat or feed it to animals), but can be turned into other biofuels.   This article describes a more direct process...cutting out the middleman (photosynthesis, chlorophyll, etc.)

Some companies are finally monetizing the process - that means that it will actually happen.  I hope we do it first!

Be well, stay well,
DougG

[Tom]

   If there is money to be made then it becomes an answer to global warming and greenhouse emissions while producing energy that makes money.

[PhilB]

The basic story here is that:
a) when you burn hydrocarbons, you get CO2 and H2O and energy, plus some impurities and pollutants if your combustion process is imperfect.
b) they are "unburning" it by taking CO2 and H2O, adding energy, and making hydrocarbons which
c) can then be burned to get the energy back out.

This is NOT an energy source, but a means of storage -- you have to generate the energy some other way, then use it to make the hydrocarbons, then burn the hydrocarbons, and you're back where you started, minus any inefficiencies.  Same idea (and result) as using hydrogen fuel -- you put the energy in to break hydrogen from water, and burn it back into water.  You do not create or gain energy this way; you simply can generate in one place and burn it in another.

So what this does is to make CO2 a cycle, instead of creating new CO2 from fossil fuels, but you still need to get the energy from somewhere.
It could be of use if coupled to a nuclear reactor, or solar/wind/renewables, using that energy to make the jet fuel, and then burning it as you please.

PhilB