Senior Research Fellow, S. Neaman Institute Technion
From Lab to Life: Capturing CO2
Scientists recount that “global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels total approximately 37.8 billion tonnes per year”. We continue to wrap the Earth in a warm blanket, causing the climate crisis. According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and environmental trackers: Coal accounts for roughly 40% of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions; Oil: Accounts for roughly 32% of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions, and: Natural Gas: Accounts for roughly 21% of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions.
“The top emitting Countries – China: ~31.8% of global fossil CO₂ emissions, United States: ~12.7% of global emissions, and India: ~8.3% of global emissions,”
What if we could use CO2, combine it with hydrogen to make a key hydrocarbon, methane CH4, releasing oxygen, and using methanol CH₃OH as fuel (e.g. for shipping), as it is considered ‘low emission’? Create a new powerful recycling approach, that absorbs as much CO2 as we pollute?
A new study from the Indian Institute of Science, published in Science Daily, Oct. 13, describes a breakthrough in finding a feasible commercial process for creating methane by combining carbon dioxide and hydrogen. **
** Anand M. Verma, Shivam Chaturvedi, Swastik Paul, Srinibas Nandi, Rahul Sheshanarayana, Kotni Santhosh, G. Valavarasu, Ambedkar Dukkipati, Chuandayani Gunawan Gwie, Pei Ying Moo, Chun Qi Joy Ng, Amol Amrute, Ananth Govind Rajan. Data-driven massive reaction networks reveal mechanistic pathways underlying catalytic CO2 hydrogenation. Nature Communications, 2026; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-77080-4
“Scientists used artificial intelligence to uncover nearly 10,000 chemical reactions involved in transforming carbon dioxide into fuels and chemicals, revealing crucial pathways that traditional models had missed. The discovery dramatically improved predictions of CO2 conversion and uncovered a surprising hydrogen reaction that could inspire more efficient catalysts.”
The key was a copper catalyst, found by using artificial intelligence. While the world wrings its hands over AI dangers, scientists are employing it to solve some of the world’s stickiest problems. How did the research team do it?
“… the research team began by using quantum mechanics simulations to build a detailed database containing 152 chemical reactions. They then trained machine learning models to quickly estimate the energy barriers that additional reactions would need to overcome.”
How about a simple rule for using hydrocarbons? “Remove as much carbon dioxide as you create and pollute!”. Not with CO2 ‘credits’ that just rearrange the Titanic deck chairs. REMOVE. Perhaps the Indian scientists have begun to provide a feasible method.