This plant produces 4 liters of gasoline per day

A start-up from the USA wants to produce gasoline directly from the air. With CO2 and electricity, up to four liters a day should be possible. By using renewable energies, fuel production could become completely climate-neutral.

Fuel consumption in Germany has decreased continuously in recent years. Nevertheless, around 13.6 million tons of gasoline and 26 million tons of diesel fuel were consumed in 2025.

Despite the decline in fuel consumption, the figures show how big the challenge remains in achieving the federal government’s climate goals. With a total of almost 40 million tons of gasoline and diesel in 2025, the transport sector remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels and is one of the largest emitters.

Alternative drive solutions, such as electromobility, are considered the key to reducing emissions in the transport sector. But a start-up from the USA is taking a different approach and wants to produce conventional gasoline directly from the air.

This machine converts CO2 into gasoline

The system from the US start-up Aircela uses an aqueous solution with potassium hydroxide to filter CO2 directly from the ambient air and bind it. The ambient air is sucked into the device via a fan.

In the next step, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis. The water can be connected directly via the house pipe.

The resulting oxygen is not needed and is therefore released safely. The system, in turn, uses the hydrogen for the final production step, fuel synthesis.

In this final step, the machine combines the hydrogen and CO2 into methanol. This methanol is then converted into gasoline in a two-step catalytic process.

According to Aircela, it is “gasoline that is ready for immediate use”. This is “fully compatible with existing engines”.

How efficient is the system?

Aircela developed the system for private households, which is why it is based on a simple plug-and-play system. Users do not need any technical knowledge to use it.

It is also a modular system that can be expanded as needed and is suitable for use in both private homes and larger applications.

According to Aircela, one module can produce around four liters of gasoline per day. The system extracts around ten kilograms of CO2 from the air.

However, Aircela’s machine also requires a lot of energy for the process of converting it into gasoline. The system uses around 75 kilowatt hours of electricity for the four liters of gasoline. The start-up is therefore working on reducing the machine’s energy losses.

Aircela is currently working with beta partners to test the system under real-world conditions in various environments and use cases. The machine is expected to come onto the market with initially limited availability in selected US markets from the end of 2026.

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