Thanks to Anthropocene for this summary of a scientific news item worthy of our attention:

A cheaper way to pull carbon dioxide from the air, turn it into crystals

by Prachi Patel

January 2017 is a big month for carbon capture in the US. The first large-scale clean coal facility became operational, pumping carbon dioxide from a Texas coal power plant to a nearby oilfield to extract oil. Another clean coal plant will become operational in Mississippi at the end of the month.

Capturing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industries, while controversial, could play a key role in slowing global warming. But to keep average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, many experts believe we will also need to pull carbon dioxide directly from the air. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have found a seemingly cost-effective and simple way to do that.

The technology involves a liquid that sucks carbon dioxide from the air and turns into crystals. The technique can capture and then release carbon dioxide for storage using far less energy and chemicals than traditional methods…

Source: Seipp CA et al. CO₂ Capture from Ambient Air by Crystallization with a Guanidine Sorbent. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016.

Read the whole summary here.