Climate News December 2024
Researchers at UC Berkeley create CO2-capturing powder.
In a year, a large tree can take around 40 kilograms of CO₂ out of the air. Now scientists at UC Berkeley have made a carbon-capturing powder that can achieve the same feat. With half a pound of this fluffy yellow powder, the researchers say that they can capture the same 40 kilos. This powder, called COF-999, has been designed to trap greenhouse gas particles, and then release them in a safer place, for example injecting the carbon into the ground, something already done at carbon-capturing plants. The powder uses microscopic pores to capture gases and store them away. Tests show that the powder remains in good form through 100 cycles, and according to Omar Yaghi, who is a reticular chemist a UC Berkeley, “based on the stability and behavior of the material right now, we think it will go to thousands of cycles.” Yaghi, who is also the study’s senior author, thinks that to solve the climate crisis it is necessary to extract carbon from our atmosphere.
To meet the goal of reducing global warming to 2 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial temperature levels, we must keep the atmospheric carbon concentration level below 450ppm. Studies show that current CO₂ levels are around 423ppm. This means that even if we stop emitting carbon dioxide, it will be necessary to extract it from the atmosphere. To test the new powder, scientists packed it into a cylinder of a similar size to a straw and exposed it to Berkeley air for 20 days. When air entered the tube, its CO₂ concentration levels ranged from 410ppm to 517ppm. When the air completed its journey through the powder, they could not detect any CO₂ at all. Once the powder has captured a suitable amount of carbon, COF-999 can be heated to 140℉ and it will loosen bonds with the carbon. Then, scientists can remove the carbon from the powder and apply a method of storing it. Other CO₂-capturing materials need to be heated to temperatures of 250℉ to release stored carbon. Additional research still needs to be conducted to find exactly how many cycles the powder can go through without deterioration (estimates now are hundreds to thousands of cycles). Zihui Zhou, the study’s leader, and a materials chemist working on completing his PhD at UC Berkeley, as well as Yaghi, are listed as the inventors of COF-999 in a patent application for the powder filed by UC Berkely. Yaghi predicts that COF-999 will be ready for direct air capture plants in two years. All things considered, COF-999, when completed, will make an impressive substitute for other materials to extract CO₂ from the atmosphere. Hopefully, inventions like this will pave the way to a more sustainable future, and save us time in answering the climate crisis.
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