Scientists Develop New Sustainable Carbon-Capturing Material

A team of scientists from Sweden has developed a new sustainable carbon-capturing material. Aside from its sustainability, the material has a high capture rate and operates at a low cost.

Capturing carbon dioxide emissions to tackle climate change is not a new idea.

For example, scientists in India tweaked the chemical composition of gold into something that can turn carbon emissions into fuel. Similarly, Argonne National Laboratory researchers also developed a catalyst that’ll help convert the greenhouse gas into fuel.

The current carbon capturing and storage technologies are far from perfect.

In some cases, the materials and processes involved come with a significant side effect, which makes them unsustainable. And in other times, the technology may be too expensive to operate.

Now the researchers from Chalmers University of Technology and Stockholm University have developed an alternative. Not only is the material low-cost and sustainable, but it also has selective carbon dioxide-capturing properties.

Here’s how it works.

Using Zeolites as a Carbon-Capturing Material

For a long time, several studies have proposed Zeolites for carbon capture. Unfortunately, it’s challenging to work with larger zeolite particles when they are processed and implemented in different applications.

So, what did the team do differently?

A Ph.D. student at Chalmers’ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Walter Rosas Arbelaez explained:

“In the new material, we took zeolites, which have excellent capabilities for capturing carbon dioxide, and combined them with gelatine and cellulose, which has strong mechanical properties.”

The researchers prepared the zeolite as smaller particles in a suspension. That way, they could conveniently incorporate the highly porous cellulose foam.

The end product was a carbon-capturing material that was durable, stable, and highly reusable.

What’s more, the cellulose doesn’t interfere with zeolites’ ability to absorb the gas. As a result, the CO2 is significantly easier to separate when compared to previous carbon-capturing technologies.

The quest to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere has led to several exciting discoveries. Hopefully, the new technology will soon take on the challenge of helping us meet climate goals.