A Cheap Smokestack Scrubber for Carbon

Photo: ACS

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Georgia Tech and Department of Energy researchers say they have developed an affordable technique for removing carbon dioxide from smokestacks, a key breakthrough in the fight against global warming if it proves to be as good as they claim.

The research, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, describes a solid adsorbent called "hyperbranched aminosilica," which captured seven times more carbon dioxide than other currently available solid adsorbents and could be recycled and reused.

Smokestacks are required to capture a variety of pollutants, from sulfur and nitrogen oxides to mercury. To do so they use various techniques, from injecting liquids or solids into the exhaust to react with, and capture particles, or using electrostatic precipitators to capture particles using static electricity.

How coal-fired power plants and industry capture carbon emissions is a key question that must be addressed as the nation and world consider how to maintain a high standard of living, based on high energy consumption, without fueling additional global warming.

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