In 2018 alone, global aviation produced 1.04 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 2.5 percent of all CO2 emissions that year.
Global air travel has been affected due to the violent world-changing coronavirus pandemic and is not expected to return to pre-coveted levels by 2024. Despite a historic 60 percent reduction in global flights this year, the industry is still set to recovering.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects that about 7.8 billion air travelers will go to the skies in 2036. For the first time, however, an advance by Carbon Sciences, an alternative fuel company, is expected to increase profits by while drastically reducing climate emissions.
This is critical because of the amount of carbon emissions that aviation produces as a whole. For example, the carbon footprint of a person flying on a one-way flight from Istanbul and New York is an impressive 1.3 metric tons. To prevent global warming from advancing further, the maximum amount of carbon dioxide a person can produce per year ranges from 0.6 to 1.5 metric tons of CO2 per year.
Carbon Sciences says it pioneered a method to use carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to create the necessary fuels, such as gasoline and jet fuel. If your method can prove its ability to scale up efficiently and economically, it can revolutionize the energy industry by providing abundant fuel based on renewable energy while reducing the global carbon footprint.
“We are very excited about our new process for turning CO2 into fuel,” said company CEO Derek McLeish. “Based on our research to date, we believe that we will be able to demonstrate our technology in the coming months with a prototype that can convert a stream of CO2 into an immediately flammable liquid fuel.”
Uncontrolled heating
As the effects of globalization and a growing middle class are felt around the world, the demand for air travel tends to grow considerably. This poses serious challenges for the environment. By 2050, the aviation industry alone is expected to use more than 25 percent of the remaining carbon dioxide emissions that humanity can produce, while global warming is no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But why is keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius so important?
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius has already caused double or triple normal temperatures in the Arctic. More dangerously, it reports that the current warming has already contributed to more intense and frequent climatic extremes.
Advance
Carbon Sciences has developed a cutting-edge method for converting CO2 into fuel, but passing it through an iron catalyst with elements of potassium and manganese, hydrogen and citric acid. CO2 and the catalyst are heated to 350 degrees Celsius, which forces a carbon atom to separate from the two oxygen atoms, after which it is attached to hydrogen to produce a hydrocarbon. CO2 is very stable and requires so much heat and pressure to decompose that it was not profitable to try before. But Carbon Sciences claims to have solved that problem.
Hydrocarbons are famous for being the main constituents of fossil fuels. When burned, they produce heat and release carbon dioxide.
The more carbon in a fuel, the more heat it produces. For example, gasoline has seven to ten carbon atoms in its molecular chain. Aircraft fuel has 10 to 16.
In 20 hours, the new process converted 38 percent of CO2 into a pressurized chamber into aviation fuel. Aviation fuel itself represented only 48% of total production, with the remaining 52% consisting of water, propylene and ethylene.
Aviation fuel would be carbon neutral because it would release the same amount of CO2 that was used to produce it.
Most importantly, Carbon Sciences says its method would actually be less expensive than other means of producing aviation fuel, particularly electricity-intensive processes that convert hydrogen and water into fuel.
Carbon Sciences does not plan to create a filter in the sky to collect CO2. Instead, they want to install it near oil refineries and coal plants and capture the CO2 they produce.
Source: TRT World