Capturing CO2 to Produce Renewable Fuels

The reaction of burning fuels can be reversed and synthetic fuels can be produced from CO₂, water and electricity as the only inputs. To enable the production of carbon-neutral renewable fuels using this concept, Climeworks provides solutions for efficiently capturing CO₂ out of ambient air.

Their CO₂ capture technology is based on a cyclic adsorption / desorption process on a novel filter material (“sorbent”). During adsorption, atmospheric CO₂ is chemically bound to the sorbent’s surface. Once the sorbent is saturated, the CO₂ is driven off the sorbent by heating it to 100 °C, thereby delivering high-purity gaseous CO₂. The CO₂-free sorbent can be re-used for many adsorption/desorption cycles. The beauty of the process is the fact that around 90% of the energy demand can be supplied by low-temperature heat; the remaining energy is required in the form of electricity for pumping and control purposes.

By supplying atmospheric CO₂ and renewable energies for fuel synthesis the resulting fuel is (i) carbon-neutral and (ii) an efficient means of storing and transporting renewable energy. Would it not be a good idea to apply this technology to help regulate the use of fossil fuels in developing countries?