A common greenhouse gas could be repurposed in an efficient and environmentally friendly way with an electrolyzer that uses renewable electricity to produce pure liquid fuels.

Rice University lab of chemical and biomolecular engineer Haotian Wang, developed the catalytic reactor that uses carbon dioxide as its feedstock and, in its latest prototype, produces highly purified and high concentrations of formic acid.

Wang says “The big picture is that carbon dioxide reduction is very important for its effect on global warming as well as for green chemical synthesis,” “If the electricity comes from renewable sources like the sun or wind, we can create a loop that turns carbon dioxide into something important without emitting more of it.”