Without carbon dioxide, there would be no plant life, because in order to grow, plants need CO2 as well as light for photosynthesis. This biological law is the foundation for the joint venture OCAP (Organic CO2 for Assimilation by Plants) that Linde has begun in the Netherlands with the Volker-Wessels construction company. Instead of "aerating" the country's many greenhouses with CO2 from gas heaters in order to promote the growth of tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, OCAP supplies greenhouses between Rotterdam and Amsterdam with carbon dioxide that a Shell refinery near Rotterdam had previously emitted into the atmosphere.
Even gaseous raw materials such as climate-damaging carbon dioxide can be used appropriately thanks to custom-tailored microorganisms: modified algae cells convert CO2, for example, that is captured from industrial emissions, into "green" crude oil. Other algae strains generate bioethanol from it. Large-scale algae farms could produce this important industrial raw material in large quantities. Bioethanol, for example, can be used to fuel motor vehicles.