Using Solar Power To Turn CO2 Into Biofuel
Joule Biotechnologies, a California based start up company is working to develop a unique process that will use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into a liquid bio-fuel. This revolutionary process could produce of to 20,000 gallons of fuel per year per acre that will cost about the same as fossil fuels.
Named Helioculture, the process uses a solar converter that will capture the sun’s rays and turn them into bio-fuel with carbon dioxide. The converter contains nutrients, an internal broth that will hold gray water and some genetically engineered organisms that rely on photosynthesis to secrete hydrocarbons that can then be used as fuel.
This new process prevents many of the traditional problems that are associated with solar power and bio-fuels. It won’t require and agriculturally viable land in order to operate and will require a lot less land that corn based bio-fuels need. And, in comparison with traditional solar cells, the liquid fuel will have a greater density of power and can be easily transported without and degradation.