Now, using nanoscale filtering membranes, researchers at MIT have added a simple intermediate step that facilitates both parts of the cycle. The new approach could improve the efficiency of electrochemical carbon dioxide capture and release by six times and cut costs by at least 20 percent, they say.

The new findings are reported today in the journal ACS Energy Letters, in a paper by MIT doctoral students Simon Rufer, Tal Joseph, and Zara Aamer, and professor of mechanical engineering Kripa Varanasi.

"We need to think about scale from the get-go when it comes to carbon capture, as making a meaningful impact requires processing gigatons of CO2," says Varanasi. "Having this mindset helps us pinpoint critical bottlenecks and design innovative solutions with real potential for impact. That's the driving force behind our work."

Many carbon-capture systems work using chemicals called hydroxides, which readily combine with carbon dioxide to form carbonate. That carbonate is fed into an electrochemical cell, where the carbonate reacts with an acid to form water and release carbon dioxide. The process can take ordinary air with only about 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide and generate a stream of 100 percent pure carbon dioxide, which can then be used to make fuels or other products.

Both the capture and release steps operate in the same water-based solution, but the first step needs a solution with a high concentration of hydroxide ions, and the second step needs one high in carbonate ions. "You can see how these two steps are at odds," says Varanasi. "These two systems are circulating the same sorbent back and forth. They're operating on the exact same liquid. But because they need two different types of liquids to operate optimally, it's impossible to operate both systems at their most efficient points."

The team's solution was to decouple the two parts of the system and introduce a third part in between. Essentially, after the hydroxide in the first step has been mostly chemically converted to carbonate, special nanofiltration membranes then separate ions in the solution based on their charge. Carbonate ions have a charge of 2, while hydroxide ions have a charge of 1. "The nanofiltration is able to separate these two pretty well," Rufer says.

Once separated, the hydroxide ions are fed back to the absorption side of the system, while the carbonates are sent ahead to the electrochemical release stage. That way, both ends of the system can operate at their more efficient ranges. Varanasi explains that in the electrochemical release step, protons are being added to the carbonate to cause the conversion to carbon dioxide and water, but if hydroxide ions are also present, the protons will react with those ions instead, producing just water.

"If you don't separate these hydroxides and carbonates," Rufer says, "the way the system fails is you'll add protons to hydroxide instead of carbonate, and so you'll just be making water rather than extracting carbon dioxide. That's where the efficiency is lost. Using nanofiltration to prevent this was something that we aren't aware of anyone proposing before."

Testing showed that the nanofiltration could separate the carbonate from the hydroxide solution with about 95 percent efficiency, validating the concept under realistic conditions, Rufer says. The next step was to assess how much of an effect this would have on the overall efficiency and economics of the process. They created a techno-economic model, incorporating electrochemical efficiency, voltage, absorption rate, capital costs, nanofiltration efficiency, and other factors.

The analysis showed that present systems cost at least $600 per ton of carbon dioxide captured, while with the nanofiltration component added, that drops to about $450 a ton. What's more, the new system is much more stable, continuing to operate at high efficiency even under variations in the ion concentrations in the solution. "In the old system without nanofiltration, you're sort of operating on a knife's edge," Rufer says; if the concentration varies even slightly in one direction or the other, efficiency drops off drastically. "But with our nanofiltration system, it kind of acts as a buffer where it becomes a lot more forgiving. You have a much broader operational regime, and you can achieve significantly lower costs."

He adds that this approach could apply not only to the direct air capture systems they studied specifically, but also to point-source systems - which are attached directly to the emissions sources such as power plant emissions - or to the next stage of the process, converting captured carbon dioxide into useful products such as fuel or chemical feedstocks. Those conversion processes, he says, "are also bottlenecked in this carbonate and hydroxide tradeoff."

In addition, this technology could lead to safer alternative chemistries for carbon capture, Varanasi says. "A lot of these absorbents can at times be toxic, or damaging to the environment. By using a system like ours, you can improve the reaction rate, so you can choose chemistries that might not have the best absorption rate initially but can be improved to enable safety."

Varanasi adds that "the really nice thing about this is we've been able to do this with what's commercially available," and with a system that can easily be retrofitted to existing carbon-capture installations. If the costs can be further brought down to about $200 a ton, it could be viable for widespread adoption. With ongoing work, he says, "we're confident that we'll have something that can become economically viable" and that will ultimately produce valuable, saleable products.

Rufer notes that even today, "people are buying carbon credits at a cost of over $500 per ton. So, at this cost we're projecting, it is already commercially viable in that there are some buyers who are willing to pay that price." But by bringing the price down further, that should increase the number of buyers who would consider buying the credit, he says. "It's just a question of how widespread we can make it." Recognizing this growing market demand, Varanasi says, "Our goal is to provide industry scalable, cost-effective, and reliable technologies and systems that enable them to directly meet their decarbonization targets."

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Tokyo, Japan (SPX) May 22, 2025 - A recent study led by scientists at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (GIG-CAS), in collaboration with international partners, uncovers how deeply subducted carbonates reshape the Earth's mantle chemistry, influencing both diamond formation and the evolution of cratonic lithosphere.

Using high-pressure experiments that simulate depths from 250 to 660 kilometers, the team examined how carbonatite melts from subducted tectonic slabs interact with mantle rocks rich in metallic iron. The research shows that in cooler, nonplume regions of the mantle, these melts reduce over time, forming stable, immobile diamonds that help preserve the structural integrity of ancient continental roots known as cratons.

In contrast, under hotter, plume-influenced mantle conditions, the same carbonatite melts oxidize the mantle. This oxidation can weaken the lithosphere, potentially triggering delamination, uplift of the Earth's surface, and extensive volcanic episodes.

"The redox state of the deep mantle is a critical factor controlling how volatiles, such as carbon, cycle between Earth's surface and its interior," stated Prof. YU Wang, the study's corresponding author. "Our experiments show that the fate of subducted carbon is heavily influenced by mantle temperature and redox conditions, shaping continent evolution over geological time."

By comparing their laboratory results with natural diamond inclusions from African and South American cratons, the researchers confirmed that mantle redox conditions leave distinct mineralogical signatures. These signatures help determine whether subducted carbon is locked into diamonds or promotes geological instability.

Beyond enhancing knowledge of deep-Earth carbon processes, the study provides new insights into the formation timelines of diamonds and the resilience of continental lithosphere under changing tectonic regimes.

Research Report:Variable mantle redox states driven by deeply subducted carbon

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Berlin, Germany (SPX) May 22, 2025 - With the goal of probing materials under extreme conditions, a team led by the University of Rostock and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) conducted groundbreaking experiments in 2023 using the DIPOLE 100-X laser at the European XFEL. For the first time, researchers were able to measure the structure of liquid carbon-a feat previously considered unattainable.

Liquid carbon exists deep within planetary interiors and may play a pivotal role in technologies such as nuclear fusion. However, examining it in the laboratory had proven elusive. At standard pressure, carbon skips the liquid state and vaporizes. Only at about 4,500 degrees Celsius and under immense pressure does carbon liquefy-conditions no conventional container can withstand.

The researchers circumvented this using laser compression, briefly transforming solid carbon into liquid. At the European XFEL in Schenefeld, ultrashort X-ray laser pulses allowed the team to take real-time measurements during these fleeting nanoseconds.

The experimental breakthrough hinged on coupling the XFEL's high-speed X-ray pulses with the DIPOLE 100-X laser developed by the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council. This setup, hosted by the HIBEF User Consortium at the HED-HIBEF experimental station, enabled simultaneous laser compression and X-ray diffraction measurements for the first time.

During each run, the DIPOLE100-X laser sent shockwaves through carbon samples, liquefying them briefly. The XFEL then bombarded the liquid with X-ray flashes, and the resulting diffraction patterns revealed atomic arrangements in unprecedented detail. By varying pressure, temperature, and timing over many iterations, researchers effectively created a time-resolved movie of carbon transitioning from solid to liquid.

The study found liquid carbon exhibits a water-like structure with four nearest atomic neighbors-akin to diamond. "This is the first time we have ever been able to observe the structure of liquid carbon experimentally," said Prof. Dominik Kraus of the University of Rostock and HZDR. "Our experiment confirms the predictions made by sophisticated simulations of liquid carbon. We are looking at a complex form of liquid, comparable to water, that has very special structural properties."

The team also refined the known melting point of carbon, addressing longstanding discrepancies between theory and simulation. This data is vital for planetary science and nuclear fusion modeling.

Dr. Ulf Zastrau, HED group leader, highlighted the broader implications: "We now have the toolbox to characterize matter under highly exotic conditions in incredible detail." The researchers anticipate faster results in the future as control systems and data processing improve.

Research Report:The structure of liquid carbon elucidated by in situ X-ray diffraction

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Sydney, Australia (SPX) May 13, 2025 - Scientists are pushing beyond traditional graphite and diamond to engineer innovative three-dimensional (3D) carbon structures with unique properties, using atomic assembly techniques reminiscent of LEGO. While graphite and diamond differ primarily in atomic arrangement and hybridization, this approach allows for the creation of entirely new carbon allotropes, each with tailored physical characteristics. These include superhard, lightweight materials, highly conductive structures, and porous networks suitable for hydrogen storage.

Researchers have already predicted over 1,600 3D carbon structures through computational methods like particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithms. For example, T-carbon, a lightweight superhard material, is built by substituting each carbon atom in diamond with a carbon tetrahedron (Phys Rev Lett 2011, 106, 155703). Another notable structure, carbon schwarzite, features a honeycomb-like network with negative curvature, inspired by the mathematical work of Hermann Schwarz, offering exceptional adsorption potential and unique electronic properties (Phys Rev B 2014, 90, 125434).

However, while theoretical models are abundant, experimental synthesis remains challenging due to carbon's natural tendency to form stable graphite or diamond. Experimental techniques to overcome this limitation include template-assisted carbonization, where zeolites are used as molds to produce porous carbon frameworks, achieving structures with specific surface areas up to 4100 m2/g (Nature 2016, 535, 131-135). Other methods involve high-pressure processing, organic synthesis, and charge-injection, which can precisely assemble carbon units into long-range ordered 3D structures. For instance, Zhu's team demonstrated gram-scale production of porous carbon using a charge-injection approach, forming stable covalent bonds between carbon cages (Nature 2023, 614, 95-101).

As these synthetic methods advance, the potential applications for 3D carbon crystals are expanding, ranging from hydrogen storage and superhard cutting tools to next-generation semiconductor materials. According to Prof. Yanwu Zhu, these developments signal a shift toward "atomic-level customization" in material design, potentially unlocking a vast "species library" of carbon structures for future technologies.

Research Report:3D carbon crystals: theoretical prediction and experimental preparation

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST London (AFP) April 24, 2025 - The UK government and Italian energy company Eni Thursday announced a deal to create a major carbon capture and storage network to store millions of tonnes of CO2 beneath the Irish Sea.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer set out the deal at an energy summit in London.

"Earlier today, we finalised a deal with Eni, it will see them award GBP 2 billion ($2.6 billion) in supply chain contracts for the high net carbon capture and storage project, creating 2,000 jobs across north Wales and the North West,"

Eni said it had reached "financial" closure with the UK government's Department of Energy Security and Net Zero for the Liverpool Bay carbon capture and storage project.

The agreement would allow the project "to move into the construction phase, unlocking key investments in supply chain contracts," it added.

The Labour government said in October it plans to invest nearly GBP 22 billion over 25 years to develop carbon capture and storage in two former industrial regions of northern Britain, to help the nation reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The government did not specify the exact amount that will be allocated to the Eni project.

The country was launching a "whole new clean energy industry for our country -- carbon capture and storage" to "revitalise our industrial communities", Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said.

CCS is a technology that seeks to eliminate emissions created by burning fuels for energy and from industrial processes.

The carbon is captured from emissions from industrial sites such as power plants, cement plants and blast furnaces and stored permanently in various underground environments.

Eni plans to store 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, a quantity that could rise to 10 million after 2030, equivalent to the emissions of four million cars.

Although complex and costly, the CCS solution is supported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), particularly as a way of reducing the footprint of industries that are difficult to decarbonise, such as cement and steel, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming.

Environmental non-governmental organisations, however, have criticised the UK's huge investment in the sector, calling for a focus on renewable energies.

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee in February also raised concerns, describing the "government's backing of unproven, first-of-a-kind technology" to reach net zero as "high-risk".

According to the International Energy Agency, the world's total CO2 capture capacity currently stands at only 50.5 million tonnes per year. This represents 0.1 percent of the world's annual total emissions.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Washington (AFP) Mar 28, 2025 - Commercial activities that damage sea floors are disrupting the oceans' natural carbon capture capacity, with more research needed on their impact on carbon dioxide absorption, according to a new study Friday.

Scientists estimate around 30 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released by humans is absorbed by the oceans, playing a crucial role in climate regulation and reducing the rate of global warming.

"There's a lot of attention now to marine carbon dioxide removal," said Sebastiaan van de Velde, the lead author of the study published in the journal Science Advances, in an interview with AFP.

"But we're not asking the question, 'What are we doing already that's maybe not helping or reducing the oceans' capacity to absorb CO2?'" he continued.

To research this, his team created models to simulate the impacts of bottom trawling and dredging -- two commercial activities that disrupt the seabed -- on the oceans' CO2 absorption.

The analyses found multiple ways in which the practices reduce the alkalinity of the water, limiting the amount of carbon dioxide that can be absorbed.

The study estimated such activities reduce the amount of absorption between two and eight million tonnes (2.2 to 8.8 million tons) of CO2 annually.

Though the amount is relatively small compared to the total CO2 absorbed by oceans, it shows human activity contributes to reducing their "carbon sink" efficiency, the study found.

Van de Velde said the study also shows that by "managing our current economic activities a little bit better," we could "make quite easy gains in terms of CO2 uptake."

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Oslo (AFP) Mar 27, 2025 - Northern Lights, the first commercial service offering CO2 storage off the coast of Norway, is set to more than triple its capacity to over 5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, the operator said Thursday.

A joint venture grouping oil giants Equinor of Norway, Anglo-Dutch Shell and TotalEnergies of France, the project plans to take CO2 captured at factory smokestacks in Europe and inject them into a geological reservoir under the seabed.

The aim is to prevent the emissions from being released into the atmosphere, and thereby help halt climate change.

The project -- one of the most advanced in the world -- is due to start operations this summer.

Initially, the plan was to be able to transport and bury 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 each year. Provided there was enough demand, this figure would be increased to 5 million tonnes a year.

On Thursday, the three partners in the project announced that they would invest 7.5 billion kroner ($713 million) to achieve the 5-million-tonne capacity. The investment included a 131-million-euro ($141 million) grant from the European Commission.

"The decision to expand our CO2 transport and storage services represents the next step in building a commercially viable CCS (carbon capture and storage) market in Europe," Tim Heijn, Managing Director of Northern Lights, said in a statement.

The upgraded capacity should be reached in the second half of 2028, according to the company.

Northern Lights also announced the signing of a new contract with Swedish utility Stockholm Exergi for the transport and storage of up to 900,000 tonnes of CO2 captured at its biomass-fuelled power station in Stockholm.

In practical terms, after capture the CO2 is liquefied, transported by ship and then transferred into large tanks before being injected through a 110-kilometre (68-mile) pipeline into the seabed, at a depth of around 2.6 kilometres, for permanent storage.

CCS technology is complex and costly but has been advocated by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), especially for reducing the CO2 footprint of industries like cement and steel, which are difficult to decarbonise.

The world's overall capture capacity is currently just 50.5 million tonnes, according to the IEA, or barely 0.1 percent of the world's annual total emissions.

phy/nzg/jll/cw

Equinor

Shell

TotalEnergies

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Raleigh NC (SPX) Mar 26, 2025 - Researchers have developed a novel combination of materials that have organic and inorganic properties, with the goal of using them in technologies that convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into a liquid fuel.

"Fundamentally, the goal of this project was to engineer a surface that would allow us to efficiently convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into methanol, which is a liquid fuel," says Gregory Parsons, corresponding author of a paper on the work and Celanese Acetate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. "Our hypothesis was that a class of materials called metalcones would be a valuable tool for addressing this challenge. Our work in this paper focuses on the engineering of a metalcone thin film for this application."

Inorganic materials tend to be solid and have stable characteristics. Organic materials can have spongelike physical properties and tend to be more chemically reactive. Metalcone thin films are both organic and inorganic - and therefore have both organic and inorganic properties.

"We wanted to find a way to create a metalcone thin film that retains the inorganic properties that make it a good interface between a semiconductor material and the liquid environment surrounding it," Parsons says. "But we also wanted the metalcone to maintain the organic properties that create efficient pathways for electrons to move."

"The problem is that metalcones face a significant obstacle for practical use in this context," says Hyuenwoo Yang, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher at NC State. "If you put metalcones in an aqueous solution, the organic properties allow the metalcones to dissolve - making them practically useless. If you anneal the metalcones at high temperatures, they become physically stable, but you lose the attractive electrochemical properties.

"But now we've demonstrated an approach that improves a metalcone's stability and electrochemical properties, making them very promising candidates for use in photoelectric chemical carbon dioxide reduction," Yang says.

For this work, the researchers used a metalcone called tincone, which is essentially a tin oxide (SnO2) in which the oxygen atoms are replaced by organic oxide components. In other words, in tin oxide materials, it is the oxygen atoms that connect the molecules of tin oxide to each other; in tincone, those tin oxide molecules are connected to each other by a carbon chain.

Because annealing at high temperatures eliminates the attractive electrochemical properties, the researchers decided to try annealing tincone at a range of lower temperatures.

"We found that the sweet spot was a 'mild' annealing at 250 degrees Celsius," Yang says. "This made the tincone substantially more stable in an aqueous electrolyte, which is necessary for potential use in photoelectric chemical carbon dioxide reduction applications. In addition to improving its stability, the mild annealing also improved charge transport, making the electrochemical properties even more desirable for these applications.

"Our next steps involve binding carbon dioxide catalysts to this mild-annealed tincone and incorporating this engineered material into an application to see how efficiently it can convert atmospheric CO2 into methanol."

Research Report:Mild-Annealed Molecular Layer Deposition (MLD) Tincone Thin Film as Photoelectrochemically Stable and Efficient Electron Transport Layer for Si Photocathodes

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2025 - Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a prominent supplier of Earth observation data, has been named the lead subcontractor under California Air Resources Board's (CARB) Satellite Data Purchase Program (SDPP). The multi-year program, valued at $95 million, was awarded to Carbon Mapper, with Planet contributing methane monitoring data derived from its Tanager hyperspectral satellite series, alongside additional satellite data offerings. The program's objective is to leverage Planet's capabilities to track methane emissions both within California and globally.

This partnership marks a strategic alliance between public, private, and philanthropic sectors, combining advanced commercial satellite technology, state-led research initiatives, and effective regulatory policies. The result is a cost-effective system that benefits taxpayers while supporting industries such as oil and gas and agriculture in reducing inefficiencies and minimizing waste. The program underscores a shared focus on economic efficiency and environmental responsibility.

Planet's hyperspectral satellite Tanager-1, launched in August 2024, was the company's second satellite to incorporate its Smallsat platform, following Pelican-1's deployment in November 2023. This platform features a vertically-integrated satellite bus and a global mission control infrastructure. Planet aims to expand its hyperspectral fleet with the launch of Tanager 2, 3, and 4, broadening its observational capabilities.

The Tanager smallsat constellation is engineered to deliver high-resolution, frequently updated hyperspectral data critical for a wide range of uses, including tracking greenhouse gas emissions, supporting defense operations, enhancing agricultural productivity, monitoring biodiversity, and assessing water quality. By supplying consistent global imagery and multi-spectral data, Planet enhances early warning systems, supports sustainable resource management, and enables better decision-making through improved situational awareness.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Paris (AFP) Mar 20, 2025 - Soil, river sediment and dead vegetation lock away more planet-warming CO2 caused by humanity than trees, said a new study published Thursday, challenging long-held assumptions about how Earth stores carbon.

The discovery would be "crucial for shaping future climate" policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the capture and storage of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the study's authors said.

About one-third of CO2 released by human activities is stored in land-based carbon sinks like forests, which along with oceans help slow global warming by absorbing excess heat-trapping emissions.

But forests are under threat, and their capacity to soak up CO2 has been diminished due to global warming, disease, wildfires and large-scaled land clearing.

Recent studies have shown that Earth's carbon stocks are increasing, but how this is spread across land-based ecosystems has been less clear.

A major uncertainty has been the distribution between living vegetation like trees and other plants, and non-living matter like decaying wood and soil.

The authors said that understanding this in greater detail was vital because ecosystems face different environmental threats, and boast differing capacities to lock away carbon.

To address this question, an international team of scientists conducted a comprehensive assessment of global changes in carbon stored in woody vegetation between 1992 and 2019.

This study, published in Science, revealed that most of the CO2 accumulated over that period was locked away as non-living organic matter in soil, deadwood, and reservoirs like dams and landfills.

"Most terrestrial carbon gains are sequestered as nonliving matter and thus are more persistent than previously appreciated," the study said.

"These pools persist far longer than living biomass, suggesting that terrestrial carbon storage may be more stable over time than previously assumed," said a statement accompanying the study's release.

These findings contrast sharply with earlier studies that estimated living matter accounted for roughly 70 percent of the carbon stored on land.

Some parts of the Amazon, due to climate change and deforestation, have shifted from being a sink to source of CO2, while other landscapes under pressure are also transforming.

After storing carbon dioxide in frozen soil for thousands of years, the Arctic tundra has changed to being an overall source of CO2 emissions as the region warms up and is torched by wildfire.

]]> Fri, 23 MAY 2025 02:08:42 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D