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Nanotubes help turn carbon dioxide and water into natural gas. The nanotubes helped to turn water vapour and carbon dioxide inside a chamber into methane.Nano Lett. Researchers have used sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water vapour into a range of fuels faster than ever before, thanks to a nanotube catalyst.Materials scientist Craig Grimes and his colleagues at Pennsylvania State University in University Park have used hollow titania (titanium dioxide) nanotubes around 135 nanometres wide and a tenth of a millimetre long to catalyse the reaction. Scientists have used titania nanoparticles to speed up this process before, but Grimes and...

Researchers Look to Mop Carbon Dioxide from Air ORLANDO, Florida, April 10, 2002 (ENS) - A process under development at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) could extract carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air to help reduce the impact of fossil fuels. The researchers at the Energy Department lab say the simple, inexpensive technique they are studying could allow for the sustained use of fossil fuels without causing global warming. The method would allow researchers to harvest CO2 from the air, reducing buildup of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and allowing it to be converted into fuel. A Los...

    Carbon dioxide turned into hydrocarbon fuel   19:00 31 July 02   Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition   A way to turn carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons has caused a big stir at an industrial chemistry conference in New Brunwick, New Jersey. Nakamichi Yamasaki of the Tokushima Industrial Technology Center in Japan says he has a process that makes propane and butane at relatively low temperatures and pressures.   Making fuel from greenhouse gases While his work still needs independent verification, if he can make even heavier hydrocarbons, it might be possible to make petrol. It has carbon chains that...