Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK have found a low-cost and energy-efficient way to remove carbon dioxide from the air. The team used charcoal, a component of household water filters, to work like a sponge that absorbs CO2 and can release it on demand.
“Realistically, we’ve got to do everything we can,” said Alexander Forse, assistant professor at the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge. “from the atmosphere is a last resort, but given the scale of the climate emergency, it’s something we need to investigate.”Efforts are already underway to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. The approach uses sponge-like materials that can absorb CO2.
“We wanted to see if activated charcoal might be an option since it’s cheap, stable and made at scale,” explained Forse in a statement. Activated charcoal is widely used in industrial processes but isn’t suited to capture and hold CO2. When a battery is charged, ions are introduced into its electrodes. Frose’s team proposed a similar approach to introducing hydroxide ions into activated charcoal. Hydroxides form reversible bonds with CO2, making them suitable for direct air capture.
“The rates of CO2 capture are already comparable to incumbent materials,” added Frose in the statement. This approach is better than previously used methods because the release of CO2 is less energy-intensive.
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