February
16, 2008 US Scientists Develop
Substance
to Absorb Carbon dioxide
Los Angeles
US researchers have developed a substance that can absorb carbon
dioxide from smokestacks and tailpipes.
Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA)
developed the gas sucker by synthesising a new class of sponge-like
crystals that can soak up carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas
in industrial emissions, said the study published in the journal
Science Friday.
The crystals, dubbed zeolitic imidazolate frameworks or ZIFs, are
grids of metal atoms and organic molecules that loosely trap carbon
dioxide as it drifts into microscopic pores.
The researchers believe that atomic charges hold the gas in place so
that the gas could then be buried, thus preventing it from
contributing to climate change.
One variety, called ZIF-69, is so absorbent that a single litre of
the material can hold 83 litres of carbon dioxide, according to the
study.
The crystals could be tailored to capture carbon dioxide emissions
from coal-fired power plants, factories and other industrial
sources, said UCLA chemist Omar Yaghi, who led the study.
The idea is to line the insides of smokestacks with a layer of ZIF.
Carbon dioxide that enters the pores could be sucked out
periodically and sequestered underground.
Yaghi said the material could also be used to line the exhaust
systems of cars. When drivers fill their tanks with gasoline, they
could also have the carbon dioxide removed.
"That is a little bit more challenging than in the power plants,"
Yaghi said.Capturing industrial carbon dioxide emissions is widely
considered a key strategy for staving off global warming.
The leading method relies on a chemical reaction to trap carbon
dioxide in a toxic liquid -- a process deemed too expensive to
implement on a commercial scale.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has estimated that retrofitting a
power plant with such a system would make electricity at least twice
as expensive.
ZIFs could bring down the cost, but more testing is needed to know
for sure, said Thomas Feeley, a DOE technology manager who was not
involved in the research.
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