A Coal-Fired Power Plant In India Is Turning Carbon Dioxide Into Baking Soda (technologyreview.com)

schwit1 quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: In the southern Indian city of Tuticorin, locals are unlikely to suffer from a poorly risen cake. That's because a coal-fired thermal power station in the area captures carbon dioxide and turns it into baking soda. Carbon capture schemes are nothing new. Typically, they use a solvent, such as amine, to catch carbon dioxide and prevent it from escaping into the atmosphere. From there, the CO2 can either be stored away or used. But the Guardian reports that a system installed in the Tuticorin plant uses a new proprietary solvent developed by the company Carbon Clean Solutions. The solvent is reportedly just slightly more efficient than those used conventionally, requiring a little less energy and smaller apparatus to run. The collected CO2 is used to create baking soda, and it claims that as much as 66,000 tons of the gas could be captured at the plant each year. Its operators say that the marginal gain in efficiency is just enough to make it feasible to run the plant without a subsidy. In fact, it's claimed to be the first example of an unsubsidized industrial plant capturing CO2 for use. schwit1 notes: "A 'climate change' project that doesn't involve taxpayer dollars? Is that even allowed?"

Comments

Re: "captured"

[PatientZero]

When the cops announce they've nabbed a bank-robber, do you only consider him captured if they killed him in the process? Your standards seem either not well thought out or simply unrealistic.

If the cops nab a bank robber and then release him, I don't consider him captured. Jail would suffice; I don't see that execution is necessary.

Are you inhaling the baking soda? Is it floating in the atmosphere helping insulate the planet?

Carbon from fossil fuels is captured only if it is prevented from entering the atmosphere. If the baking soda is used for, y'know, baking—and then those baked goods are eaten—the carbon will end up in the atmosphere. In other words, not captured.