Carbon Capture
Researchers at the University of Georgia say that they have found a way to take the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to make useful industrial products, potentially including liquid fuels. The process uses a unique microorganism called a "rushing fireball" (Pyrococcus furiosus) which thrives by feeding on carbohydrates in the super-heated ocean waters near geothermal vents. By manipulating this organism's genetic material, the researchers created a microorganism that is capable of living at much lower temperatures and feeds on carbon dioxide. The research team then used hydrogen gas to create a chemical reaction in the microorganism that … Continue Reading
Scientists at Australia's Monash University and CSIRO have created a powerful and cost-effective new tool to capture, store and potentially recycle, carbon dioxide using a novel class of materials called photosensitive metal organic frameworks. Metal organic frameworks are clusters of metal atoms connected by organic molecules. Due to their extremely high internal surface area, they can store large volumes of gas. The researchers have found a metal oxide framework that has a particular affinity to carbon dioxide. Current technologies use liquid capture materials that are then heated in a prolonged process to release the carbon dioxide for storage. By using … Continue Reading
Researchers at Newcastle University, UK, have discovered that, in the presence of a nickel catalyst, carbon dioxide can be converted rapidly and cheaply into the harmless, solid mineral, calcium carbonate. The discovery came by chance when physicists at the University set out to study what happens when CO2 reacts with water. Needing a catalyst to speed up the recation, they looked at how organisms absorb CO2 into their skeletons. In particular, they analysed the surface of sea urchin larvae and found a high concentration of nickel on their exoskeletons. When they added nickel nanoparticles, which have a large surface area, … Continue Reading
A team of researchers, led by Professor Paul Webley, at Australia's Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies, based at the University of Melbourne, have developed a novel method of capturing carbon dioxide that reduces the cost of separating and storing the gas. The team has developed a new type of molecular sieve that allows carbon dioxide molecules to be trapped and stored. Professor Webley said that "Because the process allows only carbon dioxide molecules to be captured, it will reduce the cost and energy required for separating carbon dioxide. The technology works on the principle of the material acting … Continue Reading
Researchers, led by Tsuyoshi Ishida at Kyoto University in Japan, have published a study suggesting that compressed carbon dioxide may be more suitable than water for fracturing methane-rich rock to release the gas. Because the carbon dioxide is then trapped below ground, the discovery could also spur the development of large-scale carbon sequestration. The more extensive the network of fractures created in the shale containing the methane, the more pathways are available for the gas to escape. The researchers have found a way to greatly extend that network of fractures by replacing pressurised water with liquid or supercritical CO2. With … Continue Reading
A team of University of Oregon physicists has published a paper recommending the treatment of flue gases from coal-fired power plants by cooling it sufficiently for pollutants to be deposited as "ices". The researchers believe that this cryogenic system would capture at least 98% of sulfur dioxide, virtually 100% of mercury and 90% of carbon dioxide.The CO2 would be captured as a solid (dry ice) which would be warmed and compressed for piping to a storage facility. They estimate that the process would add about 25% to the cost of coal-fired electricity but would reduce the overall costs to society … Continue Reading
The Japanese electronics manufacturer, Panasonic, has announced that it has developed an artificial photosynthesis process which converts carbon dioxide to organic materials by illuminating them with sunlight at an efficiency which is comparable with plants used for biomass energy. The discovery has the potential to allow the development of simple and cheap systems for capturing waste CO2 from incinerators and electricity generation plants and converting it into useful organic products. Panasonic researchers found that a nitride semiconductor has the ability to excite electrons with high enough energy for a CO2 reduction reaction. The CO2 reduction takes place on a metal … Continue Reading
A Report by the U.S. National Research Council has warned that carbon capture and storage is much more likely than fracking to cause earthquakes. Carbon sequestration involves pumping CO2 at high pressure below ground and trapping it in porous rocks at depths of 1 to 4 kilometres. A large number of such deep wells have been drilled in the past and, according to the Report,, "very few [seismic] events have been documented over the past several decades", However, if carbon capture and storage is to be of any significance, many billions of cubic metres of fluid will have to be … Continue Reading
French biochemist Pierre Calleja has developed a lighting system that draws CO2 from the atmosphere and uses micro-algae to produce light with oxygen as a byproduct. The inventor claims that one of his street lights will absorb CO2 at the rate of one tonne a year – which is about as much as a typical tree absorbs in its lifetime.
Scientists at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and the University of Southern California, Los Angeles have produced a cheap plastic capable of removing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the air. The material has the potential to be used in large-scale batteries as well as "artificial trees" to remove carbon dioxide from the air. The researchers, led by the Nobel Prize winning chemist, George Olah, started with polyethylenimine, a cheap polymer that attracts carbon dioxide to its surface. They dissolved the polymer in a methanol solvent and spread it on fumed silica, a cheap, porous solid made from microscopic droplets … Continue Reading
Videos
Renewables News- Dysol Aiming to Print Storage with Solar CellsAustralia's Dyesol Limited has acquired an equity stake in Printed Power Pte Ltd, a spinoff company of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Printed Power is focussing on integrating dye solar cell technology with printed storage and power management systems to … Continue Reading → […]
- CSIRO Printer Makes 10m of Solar Cells a MinuteCSIRO researchers have built a gigantic printer that spits out solar cells at a rate of about ten metres a minute. The printer system uses existing technology to embed polymer solar cells (also known as organic solar cells) in thin … Continue Reading → […]
- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted WaterScientists from Deakin University, together with French colleagues, say that they have manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in a wide range of spilt oils, chemical solvents and dyes, while repelling … Continue Reading → […]
- Dysol Aiming to Print Storage with Solar Cells
