Reverse Combustion, Like Magic, Creates Fuel From Thin Air

Albuquerque, NM (AHN) - Using concentrated solar power, a prototype device is able to convert carbon dioxide from sunlight into fuel. The device chemically "reenergizes" carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide used to make hydrogen or serve as a building block to synthesize a liquid combustible fuel, such as methanol or even gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

The Sandia National Laboratories Sunshine to Petrol (S2P) program's Liquid Solar Fuel is completing the prototype device that will use concentrated solar energy to reenergize carbon dioxide or water, the products of combustion.

"What's exciting about this invention is that it will result in fossil fuels being used at least twice," says Rich Diver, inventor of the device, adding less carbon dioxide will be put into the atmosphere and less extraction of fossil fuels.

"This invention, probably 15 to 20 years from the market, holds a real promise of being able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while preserving options to keep using fuels we know," says Ellen B. Stechel, manager of Sandia's Fuels and Energy Transitions Department.

Sandia is operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.