---
title: "This Startup’s Making Tech to Convert Air Pollution Into Gasoline"
description: "Startup Prometheus is developing a machine that pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and transforms it into usable gasoline."
date: "2019-04-30"
modified: "2019-04-30"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/startup-convert-air-pollution-gasoline"
categories:
  - "Environment"
  - "Pollution"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "Carbon Capture"
  - "gasoline"
  - "the digest"
  - "transportation"
---

# This Startup’s Making Tech to Convert Air Pollution Into Gasoline

![Startup Prometheus is developing a machine that pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and transforms it into usable gasoline.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/startup-convert-air-pollution-gasoline.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Prometheus\</em\>*

## Carbon-Neutral Gasoline

A Silicon Valley entrepreneur thinks there's still a place for gasoline in the future — we just need to source it from the air instead of the ground.

Rob McGinnis is the founder and CEO of Prometheus, a startup [developing a machine](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-30/in-silicon-valley-the-quest-to-make-gasoline-out-of-thin-air?srnd=climate-changed>) that pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and transforms it into usable gasoline. The idea is that the device would trap and convert more carbon than McGinnis' car would produce — essentially making fossil fuel-powered vehicles a carbon-neutral form of transportation.

https://vimeo.com/324906134

## Funding Secured

Prometheus is now receiving funding from the prestigious accelerator Y Combinator, which [announced plans](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/carbon-removal-y-combinator>) in October to begin focusing its attention — and money — on the development of carbon capture technologies.

"We have conviction that it’s a worthwhile endeavor to remove CO2 from the air and transform it into something else useful or figure out how to store it safely, long-term," Y Combinator CEO Sam Altman in a [blog post](<https://blog.ycombinator.com/frontier-carbon-removal-technologies/>) at the time. "They may seem like moonshots now, but our goal is to try to come up with technically feasible solutions at realistic costs."

## Optimism Abounds

For now, Prometheus is still in the moonshot phase — when McGinnis showed his prototype device to a [*Bloomberg* reporter](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-30/in-silicon-valley-the-quest-to-make-gasoline-out-of-thin-air?srnd=climate-changed>) in March, it still hadn't produced enough gas to power his Volkswagen Golf hatchback for even a mile.

Still, that hasn't discouraged the entrepreneur, who told *Bloomberg* he believes he'll be selling gasoline for roughly $3 per gallon before the end of 2020.

**READ MORE:** [In Silicon Valley, the Quest to Make Gasoline Out of Thin Air](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-30/in-silicon-valley-the-quest-to-make-gasoline-out-of-thin-air?srnd=climate-changed>) \[*Bloomberg*\]

**More on carbon capture:** *[Y Combinator Is Turning Its Attention to Carbon Removal](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/carbon-removal-y-combinator>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)