Carbon dioxide gets a bad rap. Out of all the waste gases produced by human activity — manufacturing, agriculture, electricity production, transportation — carbon dioxide is the biggest byproduct and is fingered as the leading culprit behind global warming. In fact, it accounts for 76% of all annual global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
But Emily Cole doesn’t focus on the negatives. The 32-year-old scientist has created technology that would recycle carbon dioxide into something extremely useful.
She is cofounder and chief science officer of Liquid Light. The startup is pioneering a process to convert carbon dioxide gas into a chemical that can be used to make consumer products. She founded the startup in 2009 and immediately got to work developing technology to capture carbon dioxide and recycle it.
“Right now, waste carbon dioxide is captured and sequestered,” she said. This means the gas is collected from facilities like industrial plants or manufacturing sites, compressed in pipelines and then injected into rock formations deep underground.
Instead of storing it, we’re utilizing it and converting it into something of value, she said.
Liquid Light is the first company that’s developed a catalyst to make other chemicals out of carbon dioxide. We take carbon dioxide from its source, add water and electricity to it, and create liquid fuels and chemicals such as ethylene glycol and glycolic acid, she said.
Those chemicals could eventually replace petroleum in everyday consumer products like plastic bottles, carpets, antifreeze, even facial creams. We reduce our dependence on petroleum, which is not renewable, we make these products with lower carbon dioxide emissions and we can possibly lower the production costs, she said.
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