Reverse combustion? Turning carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuel back into fuel

Note to journalists: Please report that this research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

A press conference on this topic is will be held Sunday, Sept. 8, at 3 p.m. in the ACS Press Center, Room 211, in the Indiana Convention Center. Reporters can attend in person or access live audio and video of the event and ask questions at www.ustream.tv/channel/acslive.

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 8, 2013 — With almost 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released each year from burning coal, gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels in the United States alone, scientists are seeking ways to turn the tables on the No. 1 greenhouse gas and convert that troublesome CO₂ back into fuel.

Those efforts to unring one of the bells of global warming are the topic of a symposium here today at the 246^th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. Thousands of scientists and others are expected for the meeting, which features almost 7,000 reports on new discoveries in science and other topics and continues through Thursday in the Indiana Convention Center and downtown hotels.

Converting CO₂ into a renewable energy sources would involve capturing the gas from the smokestacks of coal-fired electric power generating stations, for instance, and processing it with catalysts or other technology into fuels and raw materials for plastics and other products.

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