The way most of us recognise CO2 is as a pollutant that harms urban environments – but what if that pollutant could be captured , stored , and then used as a resource to synthesise chemical building blocks ? The team called this idea Carbon Capture and Utilisation ( CCU ). They looked at using CO2 as a viable resource and an alternative to oil by employing cyanobacteria to take up CO2 from the atmosphere before directly turning it into the valuable chemical fumarate . Essentially a form of photosynthesis , the team claim this process is fast and efficient because no arable land is required . Fumarate is used to produce certain plastics , food additives and medicines , but is currently made from petroleum with its estimated global market size expected to go beyond $ 760mn by 2020 .
The pioneers of carbon capture One of the leading lights in CO2 capture is Professor Klaus S . Lackner , director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at the Earth
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