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- Absorbing your own: carbon dioxide emissions will be "packaged" in a film for the first time
Absorbing your own: carbon dioxide emissions will be "packaged" in a film for the first time
Russian scientists have discovered a plastic that absorbs carbon dioxide from the air under tension and can release it after a power outage. This is an ideal basis for a reusable device to combat harmful emissions and global warming, experts believe. According to experts, in order to achieve a similar effect, the sorbents currently used have to be heated and cooled, which requires a lot of energy. The new technology is devoid of this disadvantage and is very convenient, so in the future, devices based on the material can be widely used in almost any public space.
The film absorbs gas
Using calculations on a supercomputer, specialists from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University have discovered a previously unknown property of a conductive polymer, polyacetylene. This material looks like an ordinary plastic film. Under the influence of electricity, it attracts carbon dioxide molecules, the main culprit of global warming. After the current is turned off, the gas is easily released.
The first reusable industrial emissions purification systems can be created on the basis of plastic, the only cost of which will be to pay for electricity. According to scientists, a regular outlet will be enough to operate such a device.
— First, we investigated the properties of graphene. And they found out that under the influence of a charge, it attracts CO2. And since graphene consists of carbon, and it, in turn, is part of polymers, we assumed similar properties for this group of materials. We have confirmed this hypothesis on polyacetylene, which belongs to conductive polymers. It is likely that other conductive polymers have a similar ability," said Nadezhda Andreeva, associate professor at the Higher School of High—Voltage Power Engineering at St. Petersburg State University.
According to scientists, polyacetylene purification devices are best installed directly in industries with high concentrations of carbon dioxide. These should be installations with a large surface area, for example, porous membranes. Currently, liquid sorbents that absorb carbon dioxide are mainly used for cleaning. In theory, it can be isolated from them, but this is a laborious chemical process that requires a large amount of chemical reagents, so in practice, the sorbents used simply accumulate. The new technology will allow carbon dioxide to be recycled for the needs of the chemical industry.
Polyacetylene was first synthesized in 1958. It is usually obtained in the form of a black powder, as well as silver or golden films. Due to its ability to conduct current, it is considered as a promising material for electronics and batteries, and can also be used in sensors or as an alternative to metals.
Victory over global warming
According to Igor Shkradyuk, coordinator of the industrial greening program at the Wildlife Conservation Center, if developers manage to create an industrial sample of a polyacetylene-based air purification device, it may very soon find mass use in all public places, and in the future the technology may solve the problem of global warming.
— Currently, both disposable and reusable sorbents are used to purify the air from carbon dioxide. Reusable ones absorb CO2 when cooled, and give it away when heated. Polyacetylene does the same thing by electricity, it does not need to be cooled or heated. Everything will depend on the cost of the equipment based on the new principles. But the prospects are huge. The main thing is to bring the laboratory technology to an industrial product," Igor Shkradyuk said.
The material can also be used to purify the air from carbon dioxide on submarines. The possibility of reusing CO2 in the chemical industry will also be a great advantage, as it is a valuable raw material, for example, for the production of soda ash. According to calculations, the waste from one large plant will be enough to produce 2 million tons of this substance, the expert noted.
To assess the economic efficiency of using polyacetylene to purify air from carbon dioxide, it is necessary to calculate the cost of producing the material and the energy intensity of the adsorption process, Tatyana Ledashcheva, associate professor at the Department of Environmental Safety and Product Quality Management at the Patrice Lumumba Institute of Ecology of the RUDN University, explained to Izvestia.
— The conditions of use of the material are due to the independent release of CO2 after the current is turned off — thus, a sealed container is needed to collect the gas and use it further. If the technology reaches the stage of industrial testing, application is possible in any territories and enterprises where safe conditions for its operation will be created. In principle, the cleaning technique can become the basis of a climate project," the ecologist believes.
To put a new cleaning method into practice, it is important to evaluate the absorbency of the material — how much gas a square centimeter or cubic meter of polymer can hold. It is also necessary to consider how the collected and released gas will be used and how to ensure safety during operation of the equipment, said Vladimir Pinaev, member of the Public Council of the Basic Organization of the CIS Member States for Environmental Education, editor-in-chief of the scientific online magazine Resources.
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