New Plastic to Cut CO2 Emissions and Purify Water

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers have lots of imagination. After developing plastic as solid as steel, other scientists from in Australia, Korea and in the U.S. have created a plastic which could cut CO2 emissions and purify water. Their new material mimics pores found in plants and is exceptionally efficient. As said one of the lead researchers, 'it can separate carbon dioxide from natural gas a few hundred times faster than current plastic membranes and its performance is four times better in terms of purity of the separated gas.' Now it remains to be seen if commercial companies are interested, either for water desalination or for natural gas processing plants."

Comments

obligatory charlie brown

[Asshat_Nazi]

We'll just sit here in the pumpkin patch, and you can see the Great Pumpkin with your OWN EYES.

What I want to know is ...

[DivineGod]

... will the CO2 emission from producing the plastic be worth the amount saved by using it?

Copying Nature

[lloy0076]

Well, those who innovate turn once again to Parental Nature for inspiration; not entirely surprising seeing Parental Nature either has:

• Millions of years of evolution to get it right; or
• A supremely Intelligent Designer

I just hope enough of Parental Nature is around the place for long enough before we lose the wealth of knowledge and technology which we can copy.

They mean it's not a liquid, gas, or plasma

[bigtrike]

Perhaps they're referring to the state? Although if it's a plastic, it's probably an amorphous solid and lacks a crystalline structure like steel.

Re:'Nah', say industry groups.

[deek]

This and similar technologies may bring water desalination costs down to a point where such worries about fresh water are unnecessary.

There _are_ other issues with desalination, other than cost. Like, what do you do with the salty brine by-product? Tip it back into the ocean? That could cause environmental problems.

Still, on a small scale, a cheap and efficient desalination product would be brilliant! I'd certainly buy a handheld version, when I go camping near the ocean.

Re:Editorial Sensationalism

[instarx]

And please note that the membrane seperates CO2 from natural gas. Big deal. It isn't CO2 contamination in NG that's the problem, its the CO2 that's produced when the natural gas is burned. Now, does it take CO2 out of *exhaust* gases efficiently? If so it could be useful, but this smells of hype to me.

Re:Editorial Sensationalism: not necessarily

[CodeShark]

The significant statements about this new plastic are as follows:

• it separates small molecules from larger ones very quickly
• at a higher purity level than current membranes,
• and it does so at a higher temperature.

What this presumably means is that a properly used filter could be used to clean up combustion related gases, etc., returning the unburned hydrocarbons to a burner perhaps, and allowing the the remaining C02 and water molecules to be further processed later on.The next step in the line is the one that I think is the holy grail here -- to be able to separate the water and H20 from the exhaust air stream for sequestration and whatever the presumably purified water vapor would be useful for.