|
Videos
July 24, 2012 By News Staff
Getting rid of carbon dioxide (a contributor to the greenhouse effect) may be as simple as extracting it directly from the air. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers from Georgia Tech are studying the economic feasibility of such a technique, the university reported Tuesday, July 24.
Possible applications include supplying energy for fuel production or industrial applications by extracting carbon dioxide from algae, or providing a better method for oil recovery. The method could also be used to supplement the capture of emissions from power plant flues.
Georgia Tech researchers found that a removal unit about the size of an ocean shipping container could extract about 1,000 tons of gas yearly with an operating cost of about $100 per ton.
"Even if we removed CO2 [carbon dioxide] from all the flue gas, we'd still only get a portion of the carbon dioxide emitted each year," said 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."
For in-depth reporting on this new technology, read the full article at Georgia Tech’s website.
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.govtech.com/technology/Extracting-Carbon-Dioxide-Air.html
.jpg)
What is Big Data? What can it do for you? 
Discover the BI capabilities you already own.
Collaborative Justice: Transforming Criminal Justice Services Through Unified Collaboration
Cloud-Based Services Accelerate Public Sector Adoption of Video Collaboration
We need to stop clear cutting forests, particularly rain forests. We need to start making paper from fast growing sources like hemp instead of trees. We need to make the earth as green with leaves as possible and let mother nature remove the CO2 naturally. Green rooftops on buildings in cities wouldn't hurt either.
The big question here is once you have captured the carbon dioxide, what are you going to do with it? If you put it into containers as a gas or liquid, you then have to store the containers someplace. If you turn it into dry ice, when it melts, it will go back into the atmosphere. If you try to inject it into deep wells, it will find it's way back to the surface with time. At least find a way to do something with what you collect so it doesn't go back into the atmosphere.
"Possible applications include supplying energy for fuel production or industrial applications by extracting carbon dioxide from algae, " Possible applications of what? Does an editor ever look at the "articles" that are produced on this site? I wish in the email Gtech sends out they'd just include the link to the actual article or study which I usually have to go to anyway to find out what the topic is really about after reading the, as best can be described, summaries of others work.
Exactly what Mark said!!! More green keeps air clean.
The best way to deal with greenhouse effect is producing less carbon dioxide, rather than absorbing it.
FYI to the authors and editors of this article, algae are photosynthetic organisms which consume carbon dioxide (CO2) and produce by-products like oxygen (O2) so it makes no sense to say, “Possible applications include supplying energy for fuel production or industrial applications by extracting carbon dioxide from algae…”. The original Georgia Tech article says, “The technique might initially be used to supply carbon dioxide for such industrial applications as FUEL PRODUCTION FROM ALGAE or enhanced oil recovery”. This means that the algae would absorb CO2 and then use it to produce some sort of hydrocarbon fuel (gasoline, bio-diesel, alcohol, etc). Authors and editors of technology articles need a basic understanding or background in the sciences (biology, chemistry, etc.). This is not uncommon, I have seen similar bloopers in technology articles in large newspapers as well. Still, I generally appreciate the information on this website.