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  • 4 weeks ago
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00:02While jets are critical for the travel of people and goods around the world, they're
00:07not exactly eco-friendly. In fact, the BBC reported that an economy-class return flight
00:11from London to New York creates 0.73 tons of CO2 per passenger and accounts for 12% of
00:18all CO2 emissions. But now scientists have developed an iron-based catalyst which they
00:22believe could someday allow us to use CO2 pulled straight out of the sky to power our planes.
00:27To make this CO2-based fuel, experts combined the new iron catalyst, hydrogen gas, and carbon
00:32dioxide in a reaction chamber and pressure-heated them. And in a single step, they were able
00:36to separate the carbon from the carbon dioxide molecules, which then attached to the hydrogen,
00:41turning simple CO2 into jet fuel. It's not the first catalyst to convert CO2 into usable
00:46fuel, but it is the first to use something inexpensive, like iron, to do so.
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