Carbon Capture Technologies- Important for Future Survival
https://newatlas.com/environment/melamine-carbon-capture/
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Carbon capture technologies are being touted as a way to reduce the CO2 concentration in air and potentially alleviate the negative impact humans have on world climate. Major companies and research institutions are investing into carbon capture-technologies and stepping up to the plate with new materials and carbon sequestration methods.
Carbon capture is the technology by which CO2 is removed from the air and stored. Carbon is naturally stored in oceans, soil, rocks and plants. Carbon capture technology seeks to replicate and enhance these naturally occurring processes and to scale them for maximum impact. Carbon-capture can be used to remove carbon from pollution sources and process or the air itself. It is similar to a filter process that utilizes materials and methods that seek to permanently remove this greenhouse gas and keep it from inflicting further harm on the environment.
Carbon dioxide gas is a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and threatens to raise global temperatures. The polar ice caps are threatened, agricultural areas are threatened and sea level rise is threatening coastal communities. We need to deploy and scale carbon capture-technologies in the near-future before disastrous climate change threatens all life on Earth. In order to effectively implement these technologies, we need major investment from researchers, governments and companies with big pockets to support them.
Currently, there is a portfolio of carbon capture of sequestration technologies in development. Carbon can be captured naturally by planting trees, can be captured as CO2 and stored in rocks and soil and captured from the air through a process that injects it deep into the Earth. We can continue to evolve carbon capture along with the current suite of pollution-capture technologies to improve the life and health of environments and lifeforms on Earth.
Recently, oil majors including Chevron and BP have been investing into carbon capture-technology. Sequestration wells are being created that use a chemical process to take carbon directly from the air and inject it deep into the Earth. BP is under contract with Linde to produce a well that will take carbon dioxide from the Linde process and inject it under the surface of the Earth. This sequestration of industrial process waste is very promising, and can be applied to other industries that produce carbon pollution.
In another development, scientists at UC Berkeley have utilized melamine, a plastic polymer to capture carbon. This form can be used to capture carbon dioxide from the point of generation of carbon pollution. Imagine lining and coating smokestacks, car and truck tailpipes and lining production facilities in a material that can sequester carbon from the air and be produced easily. This is the potential with this material. Point-source capture and pollution reduction is always the preferred method, and this is an easy and effective way to do so.
Carbon capture-technology is important. We need to encourage companies and governments to work together to help solve this imminent and existent threat to humanity.
Posted on Hive, Blurt and Steemit
