Air Capture to Reduce Atmospheric CO2

Enviro News has covered the subject of carbon capture many times in recent months, in line with the emergence of new technological advancements and strategies.  Most recently, we covered a plan unveiled in the Maldives, in which coconuts would be used to capture CO2 emissions.  Here’s something a bit more different still.

A new type of carbon capture technology is currently under development that differs from industrial CCS (carbon capture and storage) projects.  The principal of it revolves around capturing carbon straight out of the air - rather than separating it from a stream of industrial gases - and, on this basis, it could be put to work in many more locations.

A number of different air capture programmes are underway in areas around the world, but although they vary significantly in size and shape, they are united in their aim of reducing the level of CO2 already present in the atmosphere, as opposed to stopping any more entering it. 

Air Capture

One air capture venture currently in progress is taking place through a collaboration involving a glass/ ceramics company, Corning, a chemicals firm, BASF, and scientists based at New York’s Columbia University.  Others are underway in other parts of the US and Canada.

As far as Columbia University’s Peter Eisenberger is concerned, air capture represents a viable solution to reducing atmospheric carbon levels.  “You put crap into the atmosphere, you take it out," he told news agency Reuters.  To date, he added, only a very minimal amount has been done to “clean up our mess ... which is why [the] concentration [of CO2] in the atmosphere is increasing.”

Atmospheric CO2

The present volume of atmospheric CO2 works out to be 390 parts-per-million.  A number of officials and scientists alike are seeking for this to reduce down to 350 parts if the most dangerous aspects of climate change are to be bypassed.  A reduction of this kind is achievable through the widespread implementation of air capture technology, another Columbia University representative suggested. 

The fact that such air capture technology could be set up in all kinds of locations opens up its potential to be a useful climate change tool in developing nations, she added.  Used in combination with renewable energy sources like wind or solar, air capture could lower atmospheric CO2 levels. 

See also:

Geo-Engineered Artificial Forests to Capture CO2

Underground Water for Carbon Capture