Artificial Trees Remove CO2 from the Air
May-21-13
A new breed of artificial trees able to scrub carbon dioxide from the air could help to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.Developed by Klaus Lackner of Columbia University, the air filtering device features strands of a resin-based material that attracts the CO2 and binds to it—capturing the carbon dioxide directly from the air and creating bicarbonate salt. In Lackner’s demonstration of the material’s capabilities, a tube embedded with 25 micrometer particles of the resin was attached to one side of a small greenhouse filled with thriving plants. When a fan was used to move the air over the resin, CO2 levels in the greenhouse began to drop at a level faster than the plants alone could manage.
Lackner estimates it could take as many as 10 million ‘artificial trees’ to lowers the atmospheric CO2 concentrations by 0.5ppm per year. While this application may be a bit in the future, the device has a more near-future use. The CO2 can also be released at will by adding water to the material, which could make it useful as a way to supply CO2 to greenhouse plants in order to help ensure healthy plant growth.
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[SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM][COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY]
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how does it work?
Posted by Gokul Rs on May 26, 2013
The material is shaped into a filter, not unlike a furnace filter. The wind can simply blow through the filter and expose it to CO2. The filter material binds CO2 when it is dry, but releases it again when it is exposed to a higher level of moisture. The chemistry is similar to that of a sodium carbonate solution absorbing CO2 to become a sodium bicarbonate solution. Except that the sodium ions have been replaced with ions on a polymer (quaternary ammonium ions) What came as a surprise to us is that the chemistry is very sensitive to moisture. Since the outdoor air is nearly always much drier than the inside of a greenhouse the filter filled up with CO2 in the open air releases CO2 when exposed to the inside air. Once taken outside again it dries again and picks up more CO2. The water consumption is about 100 times smaller than that of green plants standing directly in the wind, so we can minimize water losses. The CO2 concentration inside the greenhouse can kept much higher than outside. In a small volume, the resin can push the CO2 concentration to a few percent. The details have been published and can be found with google scholar.
Posted by Klaus Lackner on May 26, 2013
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how does it work?
Posted by Gokul Rs on May 26, 2013
The material is shaped into a filter, not unlike a furnace filter. The wind can simply blow through the filter and expose it to CO2. The filter material binds CO2 when it is dry, but releases it again when it is exposed to a higher level of moisture. The chemistry is similar to that of a sodium carbonate solution absorbing CO2 to become a sodium bicarbonate solution. Except that the sodium ions have been replaced with ions on a polymer (quaternary ammonium ions) What came as a surprise to us is that the chemistry is very sensitive to moisture. Since the outdoor air is nearly always much drier than the inside of a greenhouse the filter filled up with CO2 in the open air releases CO2 when exposed to the inside air. Once taken outside again it dries again and picks up more CO2. The water consumption is about 100 times smaller than that of green plants standing directly in the wind, so we can minimize water losses. The CO2 concentration inside the greenhouse can kept much higher than outside. In a small volume, the resin can push the CO2 concentration to a few percent. The details have been published and can be found with google scholar.
Posted by Klaus Lackner on May 26, 2013
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