{"id":81816,"date":"2020-11-26T07:43:24","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T06:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rss.nova-institut.net\/public.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.biofuelsdigest.com%2Fbdigest%2F2020%2F11%2F17%2Fcarbon-capture-breakthrough-could-be-game-changer-in-utilizing-co%25e2%2582%2582%2F"},"modified":"2021-09-09T21:14:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T19:14:22","slug":"carbon-capture-breakthrough-could-be-a-game-changer-in-utilising-co2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/carbon-capture-breakthrough-could-be-a-game-changer-in-utilising-co2\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon-capture breakthrough could be a game-changer in utilising CO2<\/sub>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Its inventors say it\u2019s the most cost-effective method of capturing CO2<\/sub> yet devised. In the short term, they hope their Airthena<\/a> device will be used to produce the 100 million tonnes of CO2<\/sub> that Australia imports each year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCO2<\/sub> is used in the horticulture industry, it\u2019s used in building manufacturing, it\u2019s used in soft drinks, and it’s used in the chemical industry,\u201d says chemical engineer Associate Professor Matthew Hill, who helped develop Airthena.<\/p>\n

At present, the cost of CO2<\/sub> is about A$300 a tonne, but the new technology can capture the gas from the atmosphere for about $100 a tonne, he says.<\/p>\n

A demonstration Airthena unit can capture six kilograms of CO2<\/sub> every day; the unit is two metres square, and can run off a solar cell.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve run more than 1000 cycles of that, so it\u2019s very effective,\u201d says Dr Hill. \u201cWhat we really need to do is go from six kilograms per day to six tonnes per day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The developers are in discussions with industry partners and investors, and hope to finalise plans to scale up the technology in the near future.<\/p>\n

In the longer term, if the cost of capturing the CO2<\/sub> becomes lower still, the technology could be used to capture the excess carbon produced when fossil fuels are burned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we start to utilise the CO2<\/sub>, we\u2019re creating an economic opportunity,\u201d Associate Professor Hill says. \u201cWe\u2019re creating jobs, and just as a lucky benefit on the side, we\u2019re mitigating against climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we learned \u2013 and especially where the economy is now \u2013 that jobs are the No.1 priority, and it just turns out that this technology can actually create jobs, because CO2<\/sub> is a valuable molecule that can be used in a whole variety of ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The device could be adapted so that greenhouses capture their own CO2<\/sub>, for instance. Or the CO2<\/sub> could be used to feed algae (which is then used to make biofuel), or to make sustainable cement.
\nA framework that acts ‘like a sponge’<\/p>\n

The device uses a metal organic framework (MOF) made practical by the work of chemical engineer Dr Munir Sadiq.<\/p>\n

The MOF acts \u201clike a sponge, and it\u2019s very good at soaking up just the carbon dioxide\u201d, Associate Professor Hill explains. \u201cAlthough CO2<\/sub> concentrations are increasing, there\u2019s only 0.04% of CO2<\/sub> in the air, so you need to have a very selective way of capturing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says that five years ago, he believed \u2013 as many still do \u2013 that direct air carbon capture technology was a \u201cpipe dream\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did the work anyway, and we\u2019ve just found that it works a lot more efficiently than we had imagined. So, if you can capture the CO2<\/sub> from the air, and it\u2019s cheaper than buying it in, then straight away you’re onto a winner, and it gives you options.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s Technology Investment Roadmap identifies five technologies as key to supporting the economy and lowering emissions: hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS), soil carbon, storage options, and \u201clow carbon\u201d steel and aluminium production.<\/p>\n

If the roadmap is approved by the Senate, these five technologies will attract $18 billion in Commonwealth investments over 10 years.<\/p>\n

Dr Sadiq says federal funds will help increase the efficiency and economic viability of his research.<\/p>\n

When he developed a CO2<\/sub> filter for his PhD, Dr Sadiq\u2019s particular interest was in capturing CO2<\/sub> in a way that was economically viable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re capturing carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant that produces 100 megawatts of electricity, for example, the cost of capturing the carbon would consume 40 megawatts of electricity,\u201d he says. \u201cThat has made it completely unattractive to investors, and to owners of such facilities. There\u2019s no incentive, cost-wise, to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says his method can reduce the 40 megawatts by 45% (or to 30 megawatts), and he\u2019s confident future improvements will take this down to 15 megawatts.
\nPetroleum, steel industries will benefit<\/p>\n

Much of the public discussion around carbon capture focuses on electricity, but the petroleum and steel industries could also benefit from a technology that lowers carbon emissions, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPetrochemicals also come from hydrocarbon. A lot of our medications come from petrochemicals. A lot of our normal household materials come from petrochemicals. We cannot simply replace them.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr look at iron ore, stainless steel processing. We still don’t have that renewable energy technology that will process our iron ore into the finished material.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Swiss company, Climeworks, also captures CO2<\/sub> from the atmosphere. Dr Sadiq says his method is more energy-efficient, and has the advantage that it can be powered by renewables.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s optimistic that his research could make a positive difference \u2013 if it receives the necessary funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to go to a much better version of the Airthena where we’ll do a lot of optimisation. Then, we think we will have a game-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we threw the kitchen sink at this, we would probably have something within a couple of years,\u201d Associate Professor Hill says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CSIRO and Monash University have developed a revolutionary device that captures carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572,5571],"tags":[10744,14898,5817,10743],"supplier":[5419,2634,4483],"class_list":["post-81816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-co2","tag-research","tag-useco2","supplier-climeworks","supplier-csiro","supplier-monash-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81816"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=81816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}