Scientists stumble onto the ability to turn CO2 into usable ethanol alcohol

By adding "nano-spikes," or -tiny bursts- of carbon and copper to CO2, scientists in Tennessee have figured out how to turn it into ethanol.

Ethanol is the kind of alcohol that you can drink.  It is also known to be used in hand sanitizers.  The fact that they can create it out of carbon dioxide is ground breaking.

In addition to drinking it and using it for cleaning, ethanol can be used for fuel.  Brazil, for instance, allocates 25% of its machine fuel to ethanol.

"We discovered somewhat by accident that this material worked," Adam Rondinone, lead author of the study, said in a press release. "We were trying to study the first step of a proposed reaction when we realized that the catalyst was doing the entire reaction on its own."

The entire experiment was expected to take much longer, using copper as a beginning catalyst but expecting more steps.  It was mind blowing when it worked with copper, alone.

Burning a gallon of diesel fuel produces nearly 22 pounds of CO2.  The ability to convert the CO2 back into workable fuel is absolutely astounding.