Sandia’s Next Fuel Source: Thin Air

A research team from Sandia National Laboratories is trying to reverse the combustion process and turn carbon dioxide into liquid fuel.

The process works something like this: concentrated solar power from a giant solar furnace is used to superheat a set of catalytic cobalt ferrite rings that, once activated, literally rip carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules apart. As a result, CO2 is transformed into carbon monoxide, which can be converted into methanol, jet fuel, or even gasoline.