Cost-Effective Solution Recycles CO2 Into Methanol Fuel - Reduces Carbon Footprint Significantly

G.K Surya, the director of UCS Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and his colleague George Olah, have discovered a cost-effective means of recycling carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to produce Methanol fuel, out of thin air. Methanol is a clean-burning fuel, and the scientists say that the success of this research will keep carbon levels in check, and also provide an alternative clean fuel. Both of the above scenarios will help reduce global warming.


The scientists explained that when air was passed through an aqueous solution of pentaethylenehexamine (PEHA), the Hydrogen present in the solution would capture CO2 in the air. When this mixture is then heated, almost 79% of the CO2 in the solution was converted to Methanol, which was later separated by means of distillation. A homogenous catalyst was used to achieve the results in fewer steps than in previous researches.

Adoption of Methanol as an alternative to petroleum fuels has been very slow because of the relatively lower energy density, but Methanol is sustainable especially now because you harvest it from CO2 present in the atmosphere. But mass-production and application in large industries might take another 5 to 10 years, says Surya Prakash.

The team demonstrated the effectiveness of this method over previous attempts, and said this time they have reduced the number of stages in the process from 5 to 1. It was possible by the homogenous catalyst they used. Another major breakthrough is that previous processes needed to operate at very high temperatures. To attain such high temperatures, scientists had to consume a lot of fuel and renewable energy sources were not capable of producing such temperatures. This new system was able to achieve better results even at 125°C-165°C.

Source: Innovative Method to Harness CO2 from Atmosphere for Methanol Production