Next up in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma remove CO₂? Short answer: no — but the longer answer is way more interesting. Plasma can take CO₂ and turn it into things people actually want to buy.

In this episode I cover:

• Why "removing" CO₂ is the wrong framing — valorizing it is the real opportunity
• Making syngas: reacting CO₂ with methane to produce CO + H₂, a building block of the chemical industry
• Making alcohols from CO₂ and water — methanol, ethanol, and yes, actual vodka (one company sells plasma-produced vodka at a premium to climate-conscious buyers)
• Carbon suboxide (C₃O₂): a yellow-brown polymerizing powder you can make directly from diesel exhaust and use as soil filler or a construction material
• The surprising fact that hospital and university diesel backup generators are amo ...