Turning CO2 Back into Fuel

What to do with all that CO2?" It's a question that's always vexed me, especially when I'm stuck in traffic behind five semis, two SUVs, and we're all doing 85MPH while passing a plant like the one pictured here. Ugh. Seriously...what to do with the CO2? Well, some scientists in Britain have a cunning plan. They're working on research into using some serious chemistry and nanoscience to capture CO2 from the air, and transform it into something useful, like maybe plastics, or even ethanol.

Yep, from your gas tank, to your car exhaust, through the electro-chemical ringer, and then back to your tank.

Now, there are already other efforts to do this, but those methods rely on separate technologies to capture and then convert the CO2. The British team (researchers from the University of Bristol, the University of Bath, and the University of West England) want to combine it all into one, more efficient process.

Imagine if those chimneys above were lined with a special polymer that would not only scrub out the CO2, but actually turn it into something else.

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