What if we could take carbon dioxide,
and turn it into something useful?
Scientists have now shown that this nuisance gas
can efficiently be converted into important chemicals,
at large scales.
There’s plenty of CO2 out there in the atmosphere.
In fact, there’s too much.
Burning fossil fuels releases more than 30 billion tonnes
of carbon dioxide each year,
driving global warming.
Plants offer one solution.
Photosynthesis sucks up CO2,
and uses sunlight to convert it into sugars.
Well, researchers have been taking a leaf
out of plants’ book
to create artificial photosynthesis.
For some time, scientists have been developing
key steps of this process.
But now they’re combining these pieces
into a single complete system.
The set-up combines solar panels with bacteria
to create useful alcohols.
First, the solar panels turn sunlight into electricity.
The electric current is used
to break down simple chemicals.
Stable CO2 and H2O molecules
are broken down to more reactive CO and H2.
These molecules are then bubbled into a tank
containing the bacteria.
The bacteria combine them to make alcohols:
butanol and hexanol.
These alcohols can be used…
not for drinking
but for everything from industrial solvents
to artificial flavourings.
They can also be used as fuels.
Because they’re made from carbon dioxide,
burning these alcohols
would have a much lower carbon footprint
than fossil fuels.
Plus, because the system is modular,
the bacteria can be swapped
to create different chemicals.
But this work doesn’t just show
that artificial photosynthesis is possible;
It shows that it’s economically viable.
This means it might soon become
a common way for industries
to make these chemicals.
By turning CO2 into more complex chemicals,
artificial photosynthesis can fight climate change,
and provide useful products.
So, copying plants can help keep the world
a little bit greener.
