INDONESIAKININEWS.COM - UC Berkeley and Stanford chemists created a low-cost and energy-efficient way to capture carbon dioxide from smokes...
According to campus chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Jeffrey Reimer, researchers used a slew of inexpensive materials to create an efficient carbon-capture “network.”
This included melamine material, which is commonly known as Formica or laminate, formaldehyde and cyanuric acid, which is added to swimming pools to condition water.
The resulting melamine nanoporous networks, or MNNs, were compared to another material previously researched for carbon capture: metal organic frameworks, or MOFs, according to a campus press release.
“We really wanted to think about carbon capture material that was derived from sources that are really cheap and easy to get,” Reimer said in an email. “Metal organic frameworks are elegant and beautiful and they are gorgeous to make. One of the things that motivated Haiyan and our colleagues was to think about ways to do that same kind of chemistry but do it on the cheap.”
Campus postdoctoral fellow Haiyan Mao, who co-led the research, cited the United States’ goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
According to Mao, despite the pressing need to quickly cut carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption continues to rise, and global efforts have identified three effective ways to achieve carbon reduction: energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon capture and sequestration.
Mao said the team’s project focused on capture and sequestration strategies, which are “critical” in accomplishing carbon neutrality targets.
“We have designed and demonstrated networks for high CO2 chemisorption capacity at a kilogram bench level,” Mao said in an email.
Mao added that the MNNs are a promise for reversible carbon dioxide capture, as they have the advantage of robust structures, high surface area and industrial-scale carbon-capture capacities.
For the chemical and materials community, Mao noted the design provides guidance for the future of carbon-capture networks and carbon dioxide absorption discoveries at the atomic level, further expanding the understanding of carbon-capture mechanisms.
“For the practicality aspect, these outstanding features of networks can significantly advance the exciting field of solid-state networks materials and CO2 capture,” Mao said in the email. “They provide a solution to the most challenging issues of high cost, large energy consumption, and pilot scale.”
According to the press release, in addition to making carbon capture more cost effective, MNNs make the process more commercially viable by increasing energy efficiency.
In contrast to currently used techniques that require high temperatures and more energy to release and regenerate carbon dioxide underground, melamine networks can release carbon at lower temperatures, saving heat and energy.
“Overall, the goal of our research is to integrate atomic level sustainable and nanoporous materials synthesis, chemical engineering and advanced characterization techniques (e.g., solid-state NMR) to accelerate our world’s transition to a negative carbon and polluted air emissions pathway,” Mao said in the email.
Source: dailycal
