An international team of researchers developed a porous liquid capable of dissolving, trapping and storing carbon dioxide, which could aid in solving the climate change crisis. With the 2015 climate change conference in Paris just around the corner and the mounting studies on the effects of the crisis on global investments, the technology could help in keeping global warming levels from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius by 2050.
The new technology that created this new kind of liquid can give birth to a new array of greener chemical processes, which includes carbon capture and storage. The CCS process involves capturing CO2 emissions produced by industrial practices and transporting them away from the plant to an offshore location where it is buried deep underground to keep it from reaching the atmosphere.
Porous materials are used in various manufacturing activities from petrol to plastic containers. However, these porous materials have always been solid. The researchers designed a special kind of liquid by tweaking its molecules, making the liquid unable to fill up all the space it permeates, leaving holes in the process. The presence of these holes in the liquid enabled it to dissolve large quantities of gas. The success of the recent experiment can lead to long-term applications of the porous liquid in manufacturing practices that will focus on the dissolution of harmful gases.
Potential Usage
The three phases of oil production includes using hydrocarbons and lift devices like pump jacks wherein CO2 rises to the atmosphere (primary), displacing oil and driving it to the surface (secondary) and enhanced oil recovery (tertiary). The first two phases leave up to 75 percent of oil in the wells while EOR, though much expensive, increases oil production by up to 75 percent.
In the enhanced oil recovery process, companies dig underground for trapped CO2 that was developed with geology and time, and redirect the CO2 to new oil fields in an offshore location through pipelines. When CO2 is reintroduced into aged wells, the amount of crude oil recovered increased. Experts believe that EOR is a vital step in making CCS widely available to help fight the disastrous consequences of climate change in the long run.
John Thompson, the Fossil Fuel Transition Project director from the Clean Air Task Force expressed that fossil fuels will not be disappearing for a long time and if the world is serious about fighting global warming, scientists must find a way to use fossil fuels without letting the carbon go out into the atmosphere. In the next few decades, an estimated 33 billion metric tons of CO2 are expected to be consumed during the EOR process. Along with other experts, Thompson believes that this large-scale EOR is vital in CCS technology deployment while the world waits for the replacement of fossil fuels.
Getting rid of fossil fuel-powered activities is the only way to limit CO2 emissions, but until then, CCS is the next best process. The development of the new porous liquid could help in EOR by effectively trapping CO2 and keeping it securely and permanently underground and even dissolving it for good.
Photo: Till Krech | Flickr
