r/science • u/Wagamaga • Feb 13 '25

Chemistry Researchers have developed a reactor that pulls carbon dioxide directly from the air and converts it into sustainable fuel, using sunlight as the power source

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/solar-powered-device-captures-carbon-dioxide-from-air-to-make-sustainable-fuel
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u/OnlyOneChainz Feb 13 '25

It depends, since it's technology it could possibly made way more efficient than a tree. I agree this is probably not going to happen though.

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u/[deleted] Feb 13 '25

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u/twystoffer Feb 13 '25

Given the flow rate and efficiency, more like 100+ trees.

However, this particular experiment was only designed to test the feasibility of solar powered carbon exchange using this particular method.

With some slight tweaks and maybe an introduction of another power source (wind or tidal), you could potentially ramp that up even further.

The biggest issue is that it creates syngas, which breaks down into CO and H if not used, and CO2 if it IS used.

But...

Considering that syngas is a precursor to fertilizer, it might be worth it...

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u/-Ch4s3- Feb 13 '25

Carbon neutral synthetic gas seems pretty great if it’s commercially viable. If you’re just cycling CO2 out of the air, through combustion, and back into the air then you could replace a lot of things that still couldn’t be battery powered. Synthetic gas for marine fuel could be a huge benefit to overall carbon reduction insofar as it would cut a lot of net emissions.

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u/twystoffer Feb 13 '25

That's exactly what ethanol is. We have an pretty decent abundance of carbon neutral fuels, but not nearly enough carbon extraction.

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u/-Ch4s3- Feb 14 '25

Corn ethanol is not in any way carbon neutral. I think something like 40 gallons of diesel go into 1 gallon of corn ethanol production.

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u/JBstard Feb 13 '25

I don't think you're going to beat mother nature in efficiency stakes

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u/Hei2 Feb 13 '25

Mother nature doesn't really care about efficiency; it cares about what works. There are plenty of examples of inefficient design in biology (think the recurrent laryngeal nerve in giraffes, or the optic disc in human eyes).

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u/irisheye37 Feb 13 '25

Nature has far more variables than the efficiency of a single task.