Scientists develop mechanism to recycle CO2 into usable fuel

August 13, 2016

Researchers from United States have developed a mechanism to convert greenhouse gas (GHG) Carbon dioxide (CO2) into carbon monoxide (CO) that can be recycled into usable fuel.
This mechanism was developed by US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and University of Illinois at Chicago.
Key Facts

This mechanism is based on the natural photosynthesis process that take place in green plants in which CO2 is converted into sugars.
However, in it this scientific conversion process of converting CO2 into CO is different from natural photosynthesis.
In this scientific conversion process, metal compound called tungsten diselenide has been used in the form nanosized flakes to maximize the surface area and to expose its reactive edges for converting CO2 into CO.
In natural photosynthesis process plants use an organic catalyst called an enzyme to convert CO2 from the atmosphere into a sugar.
In this case, green plants need energy from light, water and CO2 from atmosphere in order to make their fuel.
The obtained CO which is also a greenhouse gas can be converted into usable fuel, such as methanol.

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