There is comparable research being carried out by ARPA-e at MIT and other locations using non-photosynthetic microorganisms (extremophiles) to turn CO2 into hydrocarbon fuels such as diesel.

On 09-Jul-2015, at 18:46, John Rodgers wrote:

> Google for German Solar Diesel. There are numerous links to articles about
> this! Even AUDI as gotten in to the act.
> 
> John
> On Jul 9, 2015 4:16 PM, "John Rodgers" <jrodgers113@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Recently, the Germans have developed a solar system to convert water and
>> CO2 to 80 liters of diesel fuel per day. If you have a diesel van this
>> could be a real boon. Thats approximately 20 gallons of diesel fuel per
>> day! Given the additional mileage you get with a diesel the could be a
>> wallet saver. You could run around a week on one days solar production,
>> building a daily reserve of 20 gallons a day. By weeks end there would be
>> enough for a serious trip and other things. Anyone looked into this?
>> 
>> John
>>