There could be massive changes ahead in the chemical manufacturing industry, after researchers have discovered copper could potentially help turn carbon dioxide into sustainable fuel.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) found that the metal can act as a catalyst for this process, reducing the time and expense of traditional methods.

Researcher at JCAP who led the study Joel Ager said: “The goal of ‘green’ or sustainable chemistry is getting the product that you want during the chemical synthesis. You don’t want to separate things you don’t want from the desirable products, because that’s expensive and environmentally undesirable.”

He added that this then ends up making carbon-based solar fuels not financially viable.

The scientists used previous studies that had found oxidised copper had been a successful catalyst for creating propanol, ethanol and ethylene. They then used these findings in a number of experiments to conclude that solar cells could feed electrons to active sites into a copper catalyst, which would result in the production of biofuels.

The movement towards using environmentally-friendly fuels is being felt all over the world, and earlier this week the Indian Air Force launched its first flight powered by a biofuel-petroleum blend.

It combined biofuel from the flowering Jatropha plant, which made up ten per cent of the energy, with Aviation Turbine Fuel to fly the AN 32 transport aircraft for forty-five minutes, New Indian Express revealed.

To find out what role toll processing plays in the chemical manufacturing industry, take a look here.