Scientists unveil cost-effective CO2 capture method to lower carbon footprint

26 May 2022 --- An international team of scientists from Cornell University has found a sponge-like material that can trap carbon dioxide (CO2) in its pores. Curbing CO2 levels provides new opportunities to industry players aiming to reduce their carbon footprint and reach their 2030 climate goals. 

“Production of small molecules such as ethanol and other perfumes could benefit the beauty industry,” Phillip Milner, assistant professor of chemical and chemical biology at Cornell University, tells PersoncalCareInsights. 

“Cheaper strategies for capturing CO2 from “unavoidable” emissions (e.g. cement, steel manufacturing) as well as from air could make CO2 a “free” building block for the preparation of value-added chemicals,” he adds. 

“The materials are made from sugar and low-cost alkali metal salts to be inexpensive enough for large-scale deployment, and they could be particularly effective for limiting the environmental damage of coal-fired power plants,” says the researchers. 

“Coal emissions are still the number one anthropogenic contributor to CO2 emissions globally,” says Milner.

Capturing climate-conscious beauty
Prominent players in the industry have been noted to take steps toward a more carbon-neutral future. 

German personal care giant Beiersdorf especially addressed the ubiquitous demand for planet-conscious skincare products which harness CO2 recycling technology, resulting in Nivea Men Climate Care Moisturizer.

The company asserts that the carbon capture and utilization provide new opportunities for the industry to ensure the reduction of carbon footprints. The new moisturizer reportedly contains 14% ethanol, obtained by carbon capture and utilization, a method of recycling CO2.While CO2 is captured, other gasses like nitrogen can still pass through. 

Binding CO2
The lead researcher found that a sponge-like material is created by incorporating bundles of sugar molecules and cyclodextrins as a starter and boiling them with alkali metal salts in water. The sponge is riddled with cavities in which carbon dioxide is firmly bound. 

While CO2 is captured, other gasses like nitrogen can still pass through. 

“For the last 100 years, the leading method for carbon capture in chemistry has been a process known as amine scrubbing. Amines are organic, ammonia-derived compounds that contain nitrogen,” explains the researchers. 

“In an aqueous solution, they can selectively remove carbon dioxide from gas mixtures. However, oxygen degrades them every time they’re cycled, which means that more and more of the material would need to be produced, thus driving up the cost.” 

Experimenting with carbon capture
Looking for a more affordable solution, the researchers experimented with different materials that would work to capture CO2. 

“Lowering the costs associated with CO2 capture will benefit any process that uses CO2 as a building block,” says Milner.

He believes that the innovation will impact the industry by reducing the costs associated with carbon removal technologies and making CO2 a cheaper building block for synthesis.

The new project focused on the sponge-like materials containing hydroxide sites in their pores. 

“Typically, solutions of hydroxide salts reversibly react with carbon dioxide and form bicarbonate salts, such as baking soda, trapping the carbon dioxide. But to regenerate the hydroxide salt, the material needs to be heated up to 500 to 800 degrees Celsius – no easy feat, and not a cheap one, either,” flags the researchers. 

“What’s nice about this work is the material is useful for carbon-dioxide capture from coal flue gas,” adds Milner. 

“The structure-property relationships will allow us to design materials for other applications, like capturing CO2 from natural gas-fired power plants and maybe even from the air, which is a huge challenge of our time.” 

PersonalCareInsights previously spoke with LanzaTech, highlighting that carbon capture utilization can prevent waste carbon from entering the atmosphere and use it to produce ingredients like ethanol which can then be used to create perfume or cosmetics packaging. 

Additionally, Unilever, in a partnership with LanzaTech and India Glycols, intended to recycle carbon by trapping industrial emissions from a steel plant before they enter the atmosphere. The ethanol produced as a result was to be applied for cleaning agents. 

By Venya Patel