The percentage of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is small, in absolute terms. Nevertheless, despite the low concentration of the gas in the atmosphere, some theorists have been talking about industrial scale atmospheric scrubbing, to engage in stripping Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere, in addition to carbon capture at points of concentrated emissions - i.e. in factories, cement works, and other places where Carbon Dioxide is emitted in highly concentrated form.
I have been of the view that it is only a matter of time until a super-efficient molecule that both adsorbs Carbon Dioxide, and releases it with minimal energy, will be discovered or synthesised. Chemists have formidable tools available now, to the point that molecules can be designed, and then constructed, with their properties in mind from the outset.
And so it is that this week, the first candidate molecule for this process has appeared - one that is
1. Cheap to manufacture
2. Efficiently strips 100% of the Carbon Dioxide from the air
3. Releases the adsorbed Carbon Dioxide in an energy efficient manner
4. Is re-usable for the next cycle of adsorption.
This is big news - I am surprised it isn't front page news. What in effect this means, is that this molecule, or an evolved descendant of its class, will be able to efficiently and cheaply remove Carbon Dioxide at the emission source, but, more importantly, will be able to strip Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere itself, simply by pumping air from the wider environment through containers holding the adsobent molecule.
Simply heating the containers to a low temperature of 85 Celsius - low enough to use industrial waste heat - released the Carbon Dioxide for collection. One could imagine Carbon Capture facilities built next to industrial units that generate waste heat, so that the heating process to release the adsorbed gas does not generate additional emissions.
If a price is set per tonne of Carbon Dioxide stripped from the atmosphere that is sufficient to cover the operational costs, then running such an atmospheric scrubbing plant to reduce global atmospheric Carbon Dioxide would be economically viable.
I have been of the view that it is only a matter of time until a super-efficient molecule that both adsorbs Carbon Dioxide, and releases it with minimal energy, will be discovered or synthesised. Chemists have formidable tools available now, to the point that molecules can be designed, and then constructed, with their properties in mind from the outset.
And so it is that this week, the first candidate molecule for this process has appeared - one that is
1. Cheap to manufacture
2. Efficiently strips 100% of the Carbon Dioxide from the air
3. Releases the adsorbed Carbon Dioxide in an energy efficient manner
4. Is re-usable for the next cycle of adsorption.
This is big news - I am surprised it isn't front page news. What in effect this means, is that this molecule, or an evolved descendant of its class, will be able to efficiently and cheaply remove Carbon Dioxide at the emission source, but, more importantly, will be able to strip Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere itself, simply by pumping air from the wider environment through containers holding the adsobent molecule.
Simply heating the containers to a low temperature of 85 Celsius - low enough to use industrial waste heat - released the Carbon Dioxide for collection. One could imagine Carbon Capture facilities built next to industrial units that generate waste heat, so that the heating process to release the adsorbed gas does not generate additional emissions.
If a price is set per tonne of Carbon Dioxide stripped from the atmosphere that is sufficient to cover the operational costs, then running such an atmospheric scrubbing plant to reduce global atmospheric Carbon Dioxide would be economically viable.
That's very exciting news! Thanks for putting it simply and succinctly. I looked at the original article and was slightly overwhelmed by it. :)
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed reading your blog and have a lot of food for thought now. Thank you!