A team of researchers at Harvard University recently unveiled a new method for removing greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere by power plants.
This new method could prove not only more energy-efficient than current methods, but also safer and less costly.
The research team designed microcapsules of liquid absorbing materials. In tests, these microcapsules outperformed current methods for removing greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from emissions.
Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, and because of it, Earth's atmosphere traps more heat, which significantly warms up the planet. In 2012, power plants fueled by coal and natural gas put about a third of all greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
New regulations request that these power plants reduce those emissions, but so far, the only way to do that is with solvents that separate carbon dioxide from the gas that goes up in their smokestacks. However, these current processes have many downsides: not only are they expensive to employ, but they also reduce output and leave toxins behind. These solvents also have short shelf lives.
However, Harvard's method is simpler and uses a liquid version of sodium carbonate, which is something you can find in your kitchen as baking soda. Carbonates lasts virtually forever, so rarely need replacing, especially once they're put in liquid form and encapsulated inside a polymer shell. The microcapsules are safe, as they don't leave behind any toxic byproducts, and are less expensive to produce. But most importantly, the microcapsules capture more carbon dioxide than existing techniques because of their unique design.
Harvard has teamed up with other scientists on improving their process so that they can bring it to scale for larger power plants.
"Capturing the world's carbon emissions is a huge job," says Roger D. Aines, of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "We need technology that can be applied to many kinds of carbon dioxide sources, with the public's full confidence in the safety and sustainability."
These microcapsules could also be a good solution for other industrial processes that emit a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, such as those involved in steel and cement production.
"These permeable silicone beads could be a 'sliced-bread' breakthrough for CO2 capture - efficient, easy-to-handle, minimal waste, and cheap to make," says Stuart Haszeldine, of the University of Edinburgh "Durable, safe, and secure capsules containing solvents tailored to diverse applications can place CO2capture ... firmly onto the cost-reduction pathway."
