Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumCarbon capture system turns CO2 into electricity and hydrogen fuel
If we're going to reach the goal of keeping Earth from warming more than 1.5° C (2.7° F) this century, it's not enough to just reduce our carbon dioxide emissions we need to actively clean it out of the atmosphere too. Inspired by the ocean's role as a natural carbon sink, researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Georgia Tech have developed a new system that absorbs CO2 and produces electricity and useable hydrogen fuel.
The new device, which the team calls a Hybrid Na-CO2 System, is basically a big liquid battery. A sodium metal anode is placed in an organic electrolyte, while the cathode is contained in an aqueous solution. The two liquids are separated by a sodium Super Ionic Conductor (NASICON) membrane.
https://newatlas.com/hybrid-co2-capture-hydrogen-system/58145/
--------------------------
Works in the lab...let's see how it works in the real world.
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)They need to come out with the desktop model at an affordable price. We could have literally millions of these sitting around pulling CO2 out of the air.
NeoGreen
(4,031 posts)... i.e., net joules per mg of captured atmospheric carbon?
hueymahl
(2,449 posts)Does it cost more carbon to construct and run the device than it collects? Sure, in theory you can use renewable resources to run it, but we are not there yet in the vast majority of places. And what about the carbon to create the materials to build it?
If these questions can be answered in the affirmative, then it truly is an important invention. Otherwise, it is just another version of corn-based ethanol.