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| From PopSci, modern alchemy: Refrigerator-sized machine makes gasoline out of thin air  The Aircela acts like a mini direct air capture facility, sucking up carbon dioxide and then synthesizing it into real, usable gasoline for cars. When you run a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine, in ideal principle, the exhaust consists of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor (in reality, of course, nothing is ideal, so you get other chemicals from incomplete combustion). So the idea that one could, with the proper setup and energy input, reverse this, doesn't seem completely farfetched. And yet, reading this article, every fiber of my being cried out "fraud." In 2022, transportation was responsible for an estimated 28 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of those emissions came from everyday gas-powered cars. Put another way, nearly 3/4 of greenhouse gas emissions came from something other than transportation. Most Americans also still just aren’t interested in ditching their gas guzzlers to save the planet. But what if they didn’t have to? It wouldn't save the planet. At best, it would slow down the destruction. (Yes, yes, I know, "the planet will be fine." "Save the planet" really means "protect the biosphere.") That’s the alluring—if wildly ambitious—vision being presented by New York–based fuels startup Aircela. Earlier this month, the company announced it had created the world’s first functional machine capable of generating real, usable car gasoline “directly from the air.” The article is fairly recent, so the announcement would have been in May. Aircela’s new device, roughly the size of a commercial refrigerator, combines direct air capture (DAC) with on-site fuel synthesis to create gasoline using just air, water, and renewable energy. No fossil fuels, they say, are required. You know, it occurs to me that this technology (if it's real, which, to reiterate, I seriously doubt) could be used for more important things. The manufacture of ethanol, specifically. Aircela demonstrated the process, making gasoline directly from air, in front of a live audience in New York. David Copperfield once made the Statue of Liberty disappear in front of a live audience in New York. Also, alchemists used sleight-of-hand to "prove" to their patrons that they've turned lead into gold. Though most would describe this proof of concept as a “prototype,” company co-founder and CEO Eric Dahlgren takes some umbrage with that label. Sure, go against basic English word usage because it offends you. Is it in mass-production yet? No? Then it's a prototype. “We didn’t build a prototype. We built a working machine,” Dahlgren said in a statement. “We want people to walk away knowing this isn’t too good to be true—it actually works.” It's the first one. It's a prototype. Aircela’s device essentially functions as a compact, portable direct carbon capture facility (DAC) unit. Carbon capture generally refers to the practice of removing carbon dioxide from sources like smokestacks or fossil fuel power plants. Don't get me wrong; I'd love to be wrong. About this. But it really does sound like fakery. A spokesperson from Aircela told Popular Science that their machine is designed to capture 10 kgs of CO₂ each day. From that, it can produce 1 gallon of gasoline. The machine can store up to 17 gallons of fuel in its tank. Yes, we Americans can switch easily from one system of measurement to another even in the same paragraph. That's a superpower. In other words, at least in its current form, the device wouldn’t be capable of filling up a car’s tank with gas overnight. That doesn't seem insurmountable. If it's real. But okay, let's assume for a moment, for the sake of discussion, that it works as advertised, and it's possible to create and distribute a reasonably-sized and -priced machine that turns air into gasoline/petrol. Now, think about how large oil corporations would feel about that, and what lengths they might go through to stop it from cutting into their profits. At the very least, they hand over a few million dollars for the patent and then... sit on it. Cynical? Damn right I'm cynical. It's hardly the first time someone has claimed to pull a rabbit out of thin air. |
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