Nowadays, CO2 is extracted from the industry by using molecules known as amines (an organic compound), which react with CO2. DTU has introduced a new method of removing CO2 from human blood using molecules. The new technology may help prevent climate change.
Governments all over the world need to act as quick as possible, climate change is moving fast, and we need to prevent further alteration. The Danish government took an important step recently to reduce CO2-emissions by 70 per cent before 2030. How they want to do that is yet unknown. At this moment, we are still relying on fossil fuels. It would be way cheaper and more logical to avoid CO2-emissions reaching the atmosphere by cleaning the gases instead of removing it.
Polluting Tackled At The Source
The concept is comparable to wastewater treatment plants that clean water at the source, instead of polluting and cleaning the oceans years later. That is why we need to implement CO2 capture and storage (CCS) on an industrial scale to secure the climate and prevent further global warming.
Bio-Based Materials Are The Way Forward
Carbon dioxide is separated from the waste gases coming from the power plants/process industry. It is then inserted passively under the land and the sea and stored. There are various storage options for CO2. Even if we were able to reduce the use of fossil fuels, we would still have to start by removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
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Human Blood Can Help Prevent Climate Change
The better and more durable the technology is, the better global warming can be prevented. We need to use bio-based materials that are close to natural mechanisms, like plant photosynthesis or human respiration. These natural processes could relegate the carbon dioxide level.
The amines which we use to react with CO2 are synthetic organic chemicals. They do not correlate with nature. By replacing them with natural materials from a biological origin, we can find the right balance. That is why we could better use materials we do not need synthetic processes for. Thus, we could use human blood or respiration.
How Can Human Blood Help?
Human blood consists of many biological chemicals and compounds. It transmits nutrients such as proteins, oxygen, sugars and fats to our body cells. Also, a lot of waste products are transported by the blood, including carbon dioxide, a by-product of our metabolism. Besides, various helpful substances such as enzymes and electrolytes maintain the right balance in the composition of the blood and keep our bodies healthy.
Enzymes are biological reactors that significantly increase the speed of the chemical reaction. We have a lot of enzymes in our blood, and one of them is carbonic anhydrase. Carbonic anhydrase helps to capture CO2 from different body parts, and release it in pure form into our lungs, where it is then exhaled. We can use this process outside our body as well. When used in existing carbon capture plants, the enzyme can capture CO2 forever.
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The Projects Has Potential
Not long ago, the carbonic anhydrase enzyme is studied for carbon capture applications at DHU. The results are quite promising and state that a combination of an enzyme and a portable biological material can efficiently separate CO2 from the gas mixture. The result is the elaboration of a new process where CO2 can be chemically absorbed in the biological material. The bio-based molecules can be converted back to gaseous CO2. All in all, the project aims to achieve potential energy savings and ecological sustainability.
This process has to potential to disrupt the area of CO2 capture. With the help of bio-based molecules, we could almost create artificial lungs for the world. This would be amazing! But for now, we will be focusing on developing bio-based carbon capture and storage (Bio-CCS). For the next decade, the new technology concept will be available for first commercial use.
Human Blood Prevent Climate Change. It Will Work, But Is It Enough?
This is not always possible. It is tempting to have a project or process that is similar to the actual human lung, which pollutes CO2 with the help of natural materials. If we want to reduce climate change, we need different approaches. These approaches need to be close to nature and close to ourselves to be technologically feasible and socially acceptable.
We know for sure that this technique works. But we need to put all our efforts together to make a change, to reduce CO2-emissions. Global Bio-CCS systems need to be put in place to achieve a carbon-negative emission standard by 2050 that meets the objectives of the Paris agreement.
We need time and resources to beat climate change. But we can do something if we all help. This new technology may be a small step for us, for CCS, but a giant leap for the global environment.
Before you go!
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