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OKIsItJustMe

(19,933 posts)
Wed Jul 25, 2012, 12:22 AM Jul 2012

Pulling CO2 From Air Vital To Curb Global Warming, Say Researchers

Last edited Wed Jul 25, 2012, 12:56 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2994
[font face=Serif][font size=5]Pulling CO[small]2[/small] From Air Vital To Curb Global Warming, Say Researchers[/font]

[font size=4]But Lower-Cost Technology a Stumbling Block So Far[/font]

2012-07-24

[font size=3]Emerging techniques to pull carbon dioxide from the air and store it away to stabilize the climate may become increasingly important as the planet tips into a state of potentially dangerous warming, researchers from Columbia University’s Earth Institute argue in a paper out this week.

The upfront costs of directly taking carbon out of the air will likely be expensive, but such technology may well become cheaper as it develops and becomes more widely used, and cost should not be a deterrent to developing such a potentially valuable tool, the authors said.

The techniques would address sources of CO[small]2[/small] that other types of carbon capture and storage cannot, and have the potential to even lower the amount of CO[small]2[/small] in the atmosphere -- significant because the world may already have crossed beyond the point where the climate can be stabilized by just limiting emissions.

“The field of carbon sequestration, the field of capture and storage as a community is too timid when it comes to new ideas,” said lead author Klaus Lackner, director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy. “You cannot rule out new technology simply because the current implementation is too expensive.”

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http://www.technologyreview.com/video/416871/a-material-to-capture-carbon-dioxide/

http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/research-shows-feasibility-for-capturing-co2-from-air/
[font face=Serif]7/24/2012

[font size=5]Reducing CO2: Research Shows Chemical and Economic Feasibility for Capturing Carbon Dioxide Directly from Air[/font]

[font size=3]With a series of papers published in chemistry and chemical engineering journals, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have advanced the case for extracting carbon dioxide directly from the air using newly-developed adsorbent materials.

The technique might initially be used to supply carbon dioxide for such industrial applications as fuel production from algae or enhanced oil recovery. But the method could later be used to supplement the capture of CO2 from power plant flue gases as part of efforts to reduce concentrations of the atmospheric warming chemical.

In a detailed economic feasibility study, the researchers projected that a CO2 removal unit the size of an ocean shipping container could extract approximately a thousand tons of the gas per year with operating costs of approximately $100 per ton. The researchers also reported on advances in adsorbent materials for selectively capturing carbon dioxide.

“Even if we removed CO2 from all the flue gas, we’d still only get a portion of the carbon dioxide emitted each year,” noted David Sholl, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. “If we want to make deep cuts in emissions, we’ll have to do more – and air capture is one option for doing that.”

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Pulling CO2 From Air Vital To Curb Global Warming, Say Researchers (Original Post) OKIsItJustMe Jul 2012 OP
So this will allow the continuation of burning fossil fuels... WCGreen Jul 2012 #1
If we eliminated all carbon emissions tomorrow that would not be sufficient OKIsItJustMe Jul 2012 #2

WCGreen

(45,558 posts)
1. So this will allow the continuation of burning fossil fuels...
Wed Jul 25, 2012, 05:12 AM
Jul 2012

It's a good way out but unless we continue to push for alternative energy, we are just doing, as a species, as we always have done, PUNT!!!!

OKIsItJustMe

(19,933 posts)
2. If we eliminated all carbon emissions tomorrow that would not be sufficient
Wed Jul 25, 2012, 03:06 PM
Jul 2012

We need to quickly lower the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere below what they currently are.

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