A solar-powered reactor has been developed that can convert both captured CO2 and waste plastic into useful chemical products simultaneously. The reactor produced the chemicals and fuels efficiently at rates 10 to 100 times higher than conventional light-and catalyst-triggered processes to convert carbon dioxide into fuels without needing any external electricity. CO2 was converted into syngas, a key building block for sustainable liquid fuels, and PET plastic bottles were converted into glycolic acid, widely used in the cosmetics industry. The system can easily be tuned to produce different products useful in a range of industries by changing the type of catalyst used in the reactor.
www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/solar-powered-system-converts-plastic-and-greenhouse-gases-into-sustainable-fuels