The request for intellectual property protection was filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, according to Naveed Aslam, who invented the technology.

The proprietary biocatalytic prcess takes CO2 directly from a large emitter, such as a coal-fired power plant, and transforms it into methanol, a low level fuel.

The resulting methanol is usable directly as a fuel, or it can be used as a building block to create higher level fuels such as gasoline, butanol and jet fuel.

``Based on our molecular and process flow simulations, we believe our biocatalytic process can achieve 99% conversion efficiency of CO2 to fuel in a single pass,’’ Aslam says in a statement. ``The system throughput, meaning the rate of fuel production, and operating costs are things we are still optimizing."

Bryon Elton, president of Carbon Sciences, argues that his company’s technology delivers more value than other alternative fuel technologies.

First, it is the most direct path from CO2 to fuel, he says. Second, it operates in low temperature and low pressure and has low energy requirements. Third, the end fuel product can be used directly in the existing infrastructure, supply chain and vehicles. Lastly, he says it can be scaled up more than any other single approach in meeting the world's increasing demand for liquid, portable fuels.