In Novosibirsk, learned to get fuel from air and water

Search and development of alternative ways to get fuel has been going on for a long time. And despite significant progress, many new methods often remain unprofitable. But recently, according to the publication of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Science in Siberia", the Novosibirsk experts of the Institute of Catalysis. G. K. Boreskova managed to create a technology for processing atmospheric carbon dioxide and water into synthetic gas fuel.

In the production of fuel, hydrogen and oxygen are first produced by electrolysis from water. Oxygen is released to the atmosphere, and hydrogen reacts with carbon dioxide at elevated temperatures in the presence of a catalyst, resulting in methane. To collect carbon dioxide from the air, scientists used potassium carbonate, which was infiltrated with a porous carrier based on aluminum oxide. Then the material is sent to the reactor where the catalyst is nickel or ruthenium. In the reactor, the porous carrier needed to be heated in order to release carbon dioxide, which is mixed with the hydrogen already obtained by electrolysis. As a researcher at the Institute of Catalysis Zhanna Veselovskaya,

“The peculiarity lies in the fact that carbon dioxide is proposed to be taken directly from the air - instead of absorbing thermal power plants using hydrocarbon fuels from the smoke. The material developed by us showed itself well in comparison with others. Speaking about the novelty of our work, the development of which was given a grant of the Russian National Philosophy Fund, it should be noted that potassium carbonate interacts with carbon dioxide in the air. This fact is well known and not open to us. Potassium carbonate based sorbents have also been studied previously. At the same time, there were practically no works on using these materials for sorption of carbon dioxide from the air. ”

The resulting fuel can be used for space heating or fueling vehicles. The technology makes it possible to produce methane where an electric generator powered by an alternative energy source is located. It will be very valuable in hard-to-reach areas where fuel is difficult and expensive to deliver due to the nature of the terrain.

Based on materials from the Interfax agency

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/technology/v-novosibirske-nauchilis-poluchat-toplivo-iz-vozduxa-i-vody.html.