Oxylus Energy, a startup spun out of a Yale chemistry lab, may have developed a technology that will revolutionize the aviation and shipping industries, as well as others. According to TechCrunch, the company has figured out a cheap way to turn carbon dioxide captured from the air into methanol, using clean energy to do so.
Methanol has a lot of uses: It's used in the production of jet fuel; it's recently become a viable alternative to traditional fuels in the shipping industry, according to Det Norske Veritas; and it's used in the production of petrochemicals to make plastics, rubber, insulation materials, and other items.
The problem is that most methanol is derived from dirty energy sources, most prevalently from natural gas. The process releases carbon pollution into the atmosphere, which is a driving force behind the overheating of the planet, contributing to extreme weather events that threaten lives and the global food supply.
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There are projects underway to convert the shipping and aviation industries to hydrogen fuel, but that is a ways off due in part to cost and the fact that the infrastructure doesn't yet exist, especially if it's green hydrogen. Green methanol is a feasible possibility because, with slight modifications, most internal combustion engines can burn it.
Oxylus co-founder and COO, Harrison Meyer, told TechCrunch, "We think it's one of the most versatile chemicals that can really decarbonize the hard-to-abate sectors of shipping, aviation, and petrochemicals that are responsible for 11% of emissions right now."
Making green methanol today is energy-intensive and expensive, partly because of the need for green hydrogen. The technology developed by Oxylus uses a cobalt-based catalyst for the chemical reaction necessary to produce methane, eliminating the need for green hydrogen. The process can also be done at room temperature and normal pressure rather than high heat and high pressure.
To produce the methanol, the catalyst sits inside an electrolyzer, which splits water and carbon dioxide molecules using electricity. Once the molecules have split, the hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon atoms combine to form methanol and oxygen.
The tough part is keeping hydrogen from forming, which wouldn't leave enough hydrogen atoms remaining to form methanol. The Oxylus method steers the reaction in the right direction, TechCrunch reveals.
"You need to have this beautiful balance," said CTO Conor Rooney.
The company recently raised $4.5 million toward building a production-scale reactor that will hopefully prove the functionality of the technology and prove that it can meet its price points.
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