Turning carbon dioxide into liquid fuel. Scientists have discovered a new electrocatalyst that converts carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into ethanol with very high energy efficiency, high selectivity for the desired final product and low cost.

[u/Wagamaga]

https://www.anl.gov/article/turning-carbon-dioxide-into-liquid-fuel

[u/Norose]

The V2 used alcohol as fuel because they were able to dilute it in water and reduce the combustion temperature enough that the engine wouldn't melt. It really had nothing to do with burn rate, which in pure oxygen (the other propellant the V2 used) is going to be very fast pretty much no matter the fuel.

[u/incarnuim → u/Norose]

Yeah. I'm just saying that the notion that Ethanol can't power an airplane is dumb. Of course it could power a plane.

I got the impression that other posters felt that a plane couldn't even take off with a tank of heavy, sloshy, low energy density ethanol. Which is just not the case.

[u/Norose → u/incarnuim]

Oh absolutely, you're correct on that point.