A Brooklyn-based startup Air Company discovered a way to turn carbon dioxide emissions into an eco-friendly rocket and jet fuel.
The carbon dioxide is captured from traditional fermentation and industrial alcohol plants. It arrives at the facility in tanks cooled, pressurized and liquified. The gas is mixed with hydrogen and converted into paraffins inside a carbon conversion reactor. The paraffins are then refined and become sustainable aviation fuel.
The product is one of the first aviation fuels made from CO2, powering air travel with air itself. The company plans deploying modular production facilities as close to airports as possible, creating a direct facility-to-airport pipeline.
In the future, carbon-negative fuel could also be used to mitigate ecological effects of other forms of transportation. Furthermore, the process could be used to generate fuel for return flights from Mars since the planet’s atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide.
Ultimately, the technology allows the internal combustion engine to survive as a primary way of powering cars and other vehicles.
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