What Kind of Endless Energy Resource Researchers have Discovered? Check out!

Usama AnjumLast Updated: Jun 20, 2023

Sustainable energy sources have become the need of time owing to the rising level of pollution and global warming. In this regard, researchers from the University of Cambridge have found a way to form clean, sustainable fuels through the combination of CO2 captured from the air and solar energy gathered from the sun. The team used a solar-powered reactor to convert carbon dioxide from real-world resources into an infinite energy supply. As per the researchers, this sustainable energy can be created for use at an industrial scale.

Furthermore, it is pertinent to mention here that the research took motivation from carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems. These systems have been used to capture CO2 to pump it into underground storage. In this regard, Dr. Motiar Rahaman from the university’s Department of Chemistry said,

Instead of storing CO₂underground, like in CCS, we can capture it from the air and make clean fuel from it. This way, we can cut out the fossil fuel industry from the process of fuel production, which can hopefully help us avoid climate destruction.

How Does the Solar-Driven Technology Work?

The technology has the ability to actively capture CO2 from both industrial processes and directly from the air. After passing the CO2 through an alkaline solution, the researchers concentrated the CO₂ to convert it into syngas fuel using sunlight. Moreover, putting plastic waste into the system allowed the team to make useful chemicals such as glycolic acid. The acid plays a vital role in the cosmetics industry.

Another expert while sharing his views regarding the technology said,

This solar-powered system takes two harmful waste products – plastic and carbon emissions – and converts them into something truly useful. The fact that we can effectively take CO2 from the air and make something useful from it is special. It’s satisfying to see that we can actually do it using only sunlight.