Create new material to capture CO₂

2015/10/15 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Materialak
• Ingurumena

Korean researchers create a new material to capture CO2 from the air. This is a microporous material that physically captures CO2 and, as explained by the journal Science, has a great advantage over similar materials so far: water does not affect it.

One of the possibilities of extracting CO2 from the air or gas from a chimney is by physical adsorption. This type of micropore materials have been developed in recent years, but the problem is that water considerably reduces its efficiency. In fact, in the same place where the union of CO2 occurs in these materials also occurs the union of water, which is finally captured by water instead of CO2. In addition, with water they deteriorate a lot. The use of these materials requires complete dehydration of chimney gases. The new material they have created now overcomes this problem, as water and CO2 come together in different places. Thus, water does not reduce the absorption capacity of CO2.

The new material, composed of sodium silicates and copper sulphates, has seen in its comparisons with other materials that absorbs more CO2. And while it also absorbs water, it remains stable and efficient.