Carbon Dioxide to fuel – an Australian-Israeli initiative
An Israeli-Australian venture will use solar technology developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of brown coal.
The venture has been recently launched in Israel by NewCO2Fuels Ltd., a subsidiary of the Australian company Greenearth Energy Ltd., which has acquired an exclusive worldwide license for the solar technology from Yeda, the Weizmann Institute’s technology transfer arm.
The Weizmann technology makes use of concentrated solar energy to dissociate carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen (O2). This method, developed at the Weizmann Institute by Prof. Jacob Karni, also makes it possible to dissociate water (H2O) to hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) at the same time it dismantles the CO2.
Carbon monoxide (CO), or its mixture with hydrogen called Syngas, can then be used as gaseous fuel, for example, in power plants, or converted to liquid fuel such as methanol, which can be stored, transported or used to power motor vehicles.
The method has proved successful in laboratory trials. NewCO2Fuels Ltd. is now building a solar reactor for the conversion of CO2 on an industrial scale. Part of the development is being performed in collaboration with the Canadian Institute for the Energies and Applied Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Greenearth Energy expects the new Israeli-Australian venture to help harness the vast brown coal resources in the State of Victoria in south-eastern Australia, whose use has been limited until now by the high CO2 emission content from this type of coal. The possibility of converting CO2 to fuel in a clean and efficient manner will turn brown coal into a source of environmentally friendly fuel.
The following video first featured on The Shtick…
Phenomenal!!! If the technology can be commercialised, it will transform society. Instead of relying on fossil fuels, most of it from mohammedan realms, to energy self-reliance in countries with access to water and with plenty of sun light. It will do away with expensive carbon sequestration projects. If water can also be split by solar energy, then vehicles can be converted to hydrogen use to emit nothing other than water. If hydrogen can be generated cheaply enough, salty and polluted water could be a source from which fresh water could be condensed on burning, increasing the water available for drinking and irrigation. And if CO is combined with hydrogen, then the residual oxygen could balance that gas teken from the atmosphere on burning fuels. The possibilities are endless and possibly as transformative as the discovery of coal and the start of the industrial age. And it would be a gift to humanity from the Weizman Institute of Israel!