Finding an efficient and cost-effective way to capture the carbon dioxide generated by the use of fossil fuels would be a dramatic game-changer in the fight against climate change. We have often heard about clean coal – coal that doesn’t release lots of carbon dioxide when it is burned – but we haven’t really seen it. Our supplies of coal, natural gas, and these days, even oil are plentiful. We just haven’t figured out how to use these things without damaging the environment.
The search for a scalable, economic technique for capturing carbon dioxide is extensive and global. The stakes are exceedingly high. Possible breakthroughs are announced with some frequency but nobody has yet reached that Promised Land.
Recently, researchers at New Mexico State University announced a provisional patent for a new technique for carbon capture. It is based on a special material whose capacity for capturing carbon dioxide is greater than any material currently in use.
The technique is adsorption, where carbon dioxide physically bonds to the microporous, sponge-like surface of a solid. The new material is a hybrid metal and organic structure known as a zeolitic imidazolate framework or ZIF. According to the researchers, the new ZIF structure adsorbed more than 100 times more carbon dioxide than other similar structures. It has very little ability to adsorb other gases. This combination of high selectivity and high capture capacity is extremely promising for applications.
The University plans to license the technology to industry. If it can be scaled up at reasonable cost (which is a big if), such technology could change the world.
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New material captures carbon dioxide with high capacity
Photo, posted January 10, 2010, courtesy of Ben Grey via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.