An Israeli startup has created a reactor that transforms excess heat, carbon dioxide, and water from industrial processes into fuels and oxygen. NewCO2Fuels (NCF), using technology purchased from Yeda, the Weizmann Institute of Science’s technology transfer office, has developed a device that converts byproducts of industrial processes into usable end products. The Jerusalem Post reported:

The Rehovot-based NewCO2Fuels (NCF) plans to use the extreme heat released by factories such as steel, ceramics, glass and gasification plants – where residual heat temperatures rise to 1,450°C – to drive an innovative fuel production process, the company’s CEO, David Banitt, told The Jerusalem Post this week. … Logistically the process involves a reactor made up of a single apparatus of cells, each with a membrane sandwiched between two catalyst layers, Banitt explained. The carbon dioxide enters and splits due to the extreme heat, with carbon monoxide exiting through one pipe and oxygen through a second. The same process is applied to water, yielding hydrogen and oxygen.

Banitt described the process as “reverse combustion.” The resultant gas can later be converted into methanol or other synthetic fuels, plastics, or fertilizer. According to the Post, NCF recently signed preliminary agreements with two European companies to build a pilot plant in Belgium. If all goes well, a formal agreement should be concluded within the year.

[Photo: NewCO2Fuels / YouTube ]