Researchers are constantly developing innovating ways to replace oil-based fuel products, and biofuel, may be a possible solution to lowering carbon emissions.
According to Interesting Engineering, Researchers at Washington University and the University of Missouri in the US have created a new type of highly efficient biodiesel which has the potential to be carbon-negative.
Known as electro-biodiesel, the fuel is said to be 45 times more efficient than traditional biodiesel created from soybeans.
How biofuel works
Using a method called electrocatalysis, the team was able to convert 1.57 grams of CO2 into one gram of biodiesel, meaning a diesel vehicle powered by this fuel would emit less pollution than what was used to create the fuel.
While the European Union is looking to ban new-car emissions from 2035, there is a push to create a provision for the use of alternative fuels.
Low-carbon, carbon-neutral, and carbon-negative synthetic fuels are increasingly being considered as a viable pathway forward to for aviation, classic cars, and heavy transport such as trucking, particularly when combined with hybrid technology.
Synthetic fuel production facilities have begun to be built across the world with backing from Porsche, including in Tasmania, with the intent to capture carbon, either from the atmosphere or other sources, into synthetic petrol.
Each gram of CO2 turned into fuel would result in one gram of CO2 from a car’s tailpipe, making it carbon neutral.