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

"captured"

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless they are then entombing the baking soda beneath the earth's crust, this is not really a "capture" of carbon dioxide.

Re:"captured"

[slashrio]

As soon as you use the baking soda in baking a cake or in neutralizing the acidity of ascorbic acid by mixing it with baking soda (2 g ascorbic acid : 1 g baking soda) then the CO2 will be liberated again. So no, it's not really 'permanent' capturing.
However, if the traditional way of making baking soda (I'm too lazy to look that up) involves burning fuel in order to get the CO2, then it is better to use the already produced CO2 from the coal fired plant.
And you don't even need specifically a coal fired plant, any fossil fuel burning plant will do. I guess this is partly meant to make coal look a bit better.

Re:So wait, where do they get the sodium?

[cstacy]

Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.

Would mod Troll, but...

Sorry, I wasn't being clear

[rsilvergun]

I don't like nuclear because it's cheaper to run an unsafe plant than a safe one. Sooner or later the factory gets privatized in the name of saving money, maintenance gets put off or cut entirely and there's a disaster. This is exactly what happened in Fukushima. The best part? The CEO cried a little on TV and all was forgiven. The man should rot in jail for eternity, but we don't spill the blood of kings.

Re:Let's look at how much they are using/making

[The Bender]

And don't forget that NaOH is produced industrially by electrolysis of seawater. Using electricity. From power stations... that produce CO2, etc, etc.