EXTRACTION OF CARBON DIOXIDE FROM THE ATMOSPHERE THROUGH ENGINEERED CHEMICAL SINKAGE
We present the case for CO{sub 2} extraction from air as a means of sustaining fossil energy use by avoiding climate change. Our concept harnesses atmospheric circulation to transport CO{sub 2} to sites where the CO{sub 2} is extracted by binding it to an adsorbent. As a proof of concept, we show that an aqueous Ca(OH){sub 2} solution efficiently converts CO{sub 2} to a CaCO{sub 3} solid that can be heated to obtain pure CO{sub 2} and recover the CaO. Even with recycling costs, CO{sub 2} extraction from air blown by wind through a 1 m{sup 2} aperture could eliminate the greenhouse gas impact of 100 kW gasoline engine, making it more favorable than renewable sources as solar, wind, or bio-mass. In addition it collects CO{sub 2} from dispersed sources, preserves the energy infrastructure, can yield negative emissions, and provide free CO{sub 2} transport to sequestration sites. We report economic and scaling arguments, atmospheric simulations and experiments that support pursuing air-extraction as an advanced CO{sub 2} capture technology. This method could process today's world output of CO{sub 2} with many collection units with a net area of 10{sup 3}-10{sup 4} km{sup 2} at costs of {approx} 5{cents}/liter of gasoline, a manageable scale for this massive undertaking.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 789002
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-01-6473; TRN: US200611%%437
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2002 American Chemical Society Division of Fuel Chemistry Symposium on C02 Capture and Sequestration at the 223rd ACS National Meeting, Orlando Florida, April 7-1 1,2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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