Creating objects out of thin air is what magicians can do. Now, a British firm has done something very close to that. This company, known as Air Fuel Syndication, which is based out of north of England has developed a revolutionary technology which can produce petrol from air. Surprised? The company has presented this technology at the London engineering conference last week. The technology works by using air and electricity to generate petrol by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
So what is this technology all about and how does it work? Well, the process involves mixing sodium hydroxide with carbon dioxide before electrolysis of the sodium carbonate that it produces to form pure carbon dioxide. Then the water vapor is electrolysed to produce hydrogen and the same is captured using a dehumidifier. The resultant carbon dioxide and hydrogen are used to produce methanol. The methanol is finally passed through a gasoline fuel reactor which produces petrol.
“People do find it unusual when I tell them what we are working on and realize what it means. It is an opportunity for a technology to make an impact on climate change and make an impact on the energy crisis facing this country and the world,’ Mr. Harrison, a civil engineer from Darlington, County Durham said.
The company calls this as ‘Air Capture’ technology which generates synthetic petrol. If successful at a large scale, the technology would become a game changer altogether, especially when there is a huge energy crisis in the world. Currently, the company has claimed to have produced 5-litres of petrol in less than three months. Future plans involve building a large plant in the next two years which will be capable of producing one tonne of petrol on a daily basis.
