Paul sabatier, Public university in Toulouse, France

New York, Sep 25 Chemical engineers in the US are developing new ways to convert greenhouse gases to fuel to address climate change and get astronauts home from Mars.Researchers at the University of Cincinnati used a carbon catalyst in a reactor to convert carbon dioxide into methane. Known as the "Sabatier reaction" from the late French chemist Paul Sabatier, it's a process the International Space Station uses to scrub the carbon dioxide from air the astronauts breathe and generate rocket fuel to keep the station in high orbit.The Martian atmosphere is composed almost entirely of carbon dioxide. Astronauts could save half the fuel they need for a return trip home by making what they need on the red planet once they arrive, said Jingjie Wu, Assistant Professor at UC College of Engineering and Applied Science."It's like a gas station on Mars. You could easily pump carbon dioxide through this reactor and produce methane for a rocket," Wu said. Wu aims to recycle carbon dioxide to achieve carbon neutrality.For the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the team experimented with different catalysts such as graphene quantum dots layers of carbon just nanometres big that can increase the yield of methane.Wu said the process holds promise to help mitigate climate change. But it also has a big commercial advantage in producing fuel as a by-product.Wu's students also used different catalysts to produce not only methane but ethylene. Called the world's most important chemical, ethylene is used in the manufacture of plastics, rubber, synthetic clothing and other products.Synthesising fuel from carbon dioxide becomes even more commercially viable when coupled with renewable energy such as solar or wind power, Wu said."Right now we have excess green energy that we just throw away. We can store this excess renewable energy in chemicals," he said.The process is scalable for use in power plants that can generate tons of carbon dioxide. And it's efficient since the conversion can take place right where excess carbon dioxide is produced.Wu added advances in fuel production from carbon dioxide make him more confident that humans will set foot on Mars in his lifetime.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Paul SabatierFOLLOW

Paul sabatier, Latest News

A very shocking news has come out from France. In the last 70 years, some 330,000 children have been ... ...

Against the backdrop of Australian decision to scrap a USD 90 billion deal with France to build conventional diesel-electric submarines and opt for building nuclear boats only, a senior government official on Monday said the Indian Navy will operate ...

Nearly 48,000 people participated in demonstrations against the coronavirus health passes held across France on Saturday, La Depeche newspaper reported citing the French Interior Ministry. ...

Filmmaker Ridley Scott recently said that the script for the long-awaited follow-up to his Russell Crowe-led 2000 film 'Gladiator' is already in the process of being written and is inching closer to the top of his priority list. ...

Referring to the recently-inked AUKUS pact, France has said that military confrontational bloc is not the answer to problems in the Indo-Pacific region and a much broader approach is needed. ...

Referring to the recently-inked AUKUS pact, France has said that military confrontational bloc is not the answer to problems in the Indo-Pacific region and a much broader approach is needed. ...

Shimla, Sep 26 The low cost climate-resilient agriculture a type of farming involving eco-friendly processes in the ... ...

New York, Sep 25 Chemical engineers in the US are developing new ways to convert greenhouse gases to ... ...