{"id":160612,"date":"2025-03-27T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=160612"},"modified":"2025-03-25T14:16:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T13:16:41","slug":"solar-powered-device-captures-carbon-dioxide-from-air-to-make-sustainable-fuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/solar-powered-device-captures-carbon-dioxide-from-air-to-make-sustainable-fuel\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar-powered device captures carbon dioxide from air to make sustainable fuel\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\u00a9 University of Cambridge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, say their solar-powered reactor could be used to make fuel to power cars and planes, or the many chemicals and pharmaceuticals products we rely on. It could also be used to generate fuel in remote or off-grid locations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike most carbon capture technologies, the reactor developed by the Cambridge researchers does not require fossil-fuel-based power, or the transport and storage of carbon dioxide, but instead converts atmospheric CO2<\/sub> into something useful using sunlight. The\u00a0results\u00a0are reported in the journal\u00a0Nature Energy<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been touted as a possible solution to the climate crisis, and has recently received \u00a322bn in funding from the UK government. However, CCS is energy-intensive and there are concerns about the long-term safety of storing pressurised CO2<\/sub> deep underground, although safety studies are currently being carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAside from the expense and the energy intensity, CCS provides an excuse to carry on burning fossil fuels, which is what caused the climate crisis in the first place,\u201d said Professor Erwin Reisner, who led the research.<\/strong> \u201cCCS is also a non-circular process, since the pressurised CO2<\/sub> is, at best, stored underground indefinitely, where it\u2019s of no use to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if instead of pumping the carbon dioxide underground, we made something useful from it?\u201d said first author Dr Sayan Kar from Cambridge\u2019s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry<\/strong>. \u201cCO2<\/sub> is a harmful greenhouse gas, but it can also be turned into useful chemicals without contributing to global warming.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The focus of Reisner\u2019s research group<\/a> is the development of devices that convert waste, water and air into practical fuels and chemicals. These devices take their inspiration from photosynthesis: the process by which plants convert sunlight into food. The devices don\u2019t use any outside power: no cables, no batteries \u2013 all they need is the power of the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team\u2019s newest system takes CO2<\/sub> directly from the air and converts it into syngas: a key intermediate in the production of many chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The researchers say their approach, which does not require any transportation or storage, is much easier to scale up than earlier solar-powered devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The device, a solar-powered flow reactor, uses specialised filters to grab CO2<\/sub> from the air at night, like how a sponge soaks up water. When the sun comes out, the sunlight heats up the captured CO2<\/sub>, absorbing infrared radiation and a semiconductor powder absorbs the ultraviolet radiation to start a chemical reaction that converts the captured CO2<\/sub> into solar syngas. A mirror on the reactor concentrates the sunlight, making the process more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers are currently working on converting the solar syngas into liquid fuels, which could be used to power cars, planes and more \u2013 without adding more CO2<\/sub> to the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIf we made these devices at scale, they could solve two problems at once: removing CO2<\/sub> from the atmosphere and creating a clean alternative to fossil fuels,\u201d said Kar<\/strong>. \u201cCO2<\/sub> is seen as a harmful waste product, but it is also an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The researchers say that a particularly promising opportunity is in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector, where syngas can be converted into many of the products we rely on every day, without contributing to climate change. They are building a larger scale version of the reactor and hope to begin tests in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If scaled up, the researchers say their reactor could be used in a decentralised way, so that individuals could theoretically generate their own fuel, which would be useful in remote or off-grid locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cInstead of continuing to dig up and burn fossil fuels to produce the products we have come to rely on, we can get all the CO2<\/sub> we need directly from the air and reuse it,\u201d said Reisner<\/strong>. \u201cWe can build a circular, sustainable economy \u2013 if we have the political will to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The technology is being commercialised with the support of Cambridge Enterprise, the University\u2019s commercialisation arm. The research was supported in part by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the European Research Council, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Cambridge Trust. Erwin Reisner is a Fellow of St John\u2019s College, Cambridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sayan Kar et al. \u2018Direct air capture of CO2 for solar fuels production in flow<\/a>.\u2019 Nature Energy (2025). DOI: 10.1038\/s41560-025-01714-y<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on energy-related research in Cambridge, please visit the Energy IRC<\/a>, which brings together Cambridge\u2019s research knowledge and expertise, in collaboration with global partners, to create solutions for a sustainable and resilient energy landscape for generations to come. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, say their solar-powered reactor could be used to make fuel to power cars and planes, or the many chemicals and pharmaceuticals products we rely on. It could also be used to generate fuel in remote or off-grid locations. Unlike most carbon capture technologies, the reactor developed by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":160614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"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","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[10744,10416,10408,12042,10743],"supplier":[21618,7921,11667,25979,3334,16059],"class_list":["post-160612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-circulareconomy","tag-greenchemistry","tag-pharmaceuticals","tag-useco2","supplier-cambridge-trust","supplier-european-research-council","supplier-nature-energy-journal","supplier-royal-academy-of-engineering","supplier-uk-government","supplier-uk-research-and-innovation-ukri"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160612"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=160612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}