Thursday 9 March 2023

Capturing carbon from the air and storing it in the sea?

Scientists have unveiled a new method for capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in seawater.

They claim this technique captures up to three times more carbon than current methods and could accelerate the deployment of carbon removal technology.

The captured carbon is then transformed into bicarbonate of soda, which can be safely and inexpensively stored in seawater.

This uses off-the-shelf resins and other chemicals, which the researchers claim is more efficient and lower in cost when compared to existing methods that need large machines and large amounts of energy to absorb and discharge carbon.

The research, published in the Science Advances journal, has borrowed an approach previously developed for water applications, which has now been applied to the gas phase in direct air capture, the scientists said.

Lead author Professor Arup SenGupta said: “This simple ability to capture carbon at a high quantity, in a small volume of material, is a unique aspect of our work. We have to take [this technology] to places like Bangladesh, Barbados or the Maldives, they also have a role to play, they cannot just be bystanders who keep suffering."

He believes this technique can remove carbon for less than $100 (£84) per tonne.