No word in yet from the Easter Bunny…
Scrambling for climate change solutions
Eggshell membrane can absorb 7 times its weight in carbon dioxide
The food industry generates a lot of waste products, but one of these, eggshells, could help combat climate change, according to research published in the International Journal of Global Warming this month.
Basab Chaudhuri of the University of Calcutta and colleagues have demonstrated that the membrane that lines an eggshell can absorb almost seven times its own weight of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide thus trapped could be stored in this form until energy-effective methods of using the gas could be found that would not compound the environmental problems associated with carbon emissions. Carbon dioxide is widely used in the chemical industry for the preparation of a wide range of products as well as in some settings as an alternative to toxic solvents. It might also one day be possible to efficiently convert trapped carbon dioxide into a clean fuel.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been rising since the mid-nineteenth century when fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas – first began fuelling the industrial revolution. The rise in average global temperatures seen in recent decades is due mainly to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In 2005, carbon dioxide levels were more than a third higher than they had been prior to the industrial revolution; rising from 280 parts per million by volume of gas to 381 ppm. As of October 2010, the concentration is 388 ppm. To put these numbers into perspective, almost 300 billion tonnes of carbon have been released into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels and cement production since 1751, but half of this carbon has been released since the mid-1970s.
The Calcutta team explains that eggshell comprises three layers, a cuticle on the outer surface, a spongy calcium-containing middle layer and inner layer. The second and third layers are composed of protein fibers bonded to calcium carbonate. The membrane is just below the shell and is about 100 micrometers thick. Separating the membrane from the cuticle is currently not an efficient process. But, given that India alone consumes 1.6 million tonnes of eggs each year, there is certainly an incentive for improving on this situation in order to use the membrane material in climate change amelioration.
Chaudhuri and colleagues have demonstrated that a weak acid can be used to separate the membrane from the shell for use as a carbon dioxide adsorbant. The researchers point out that a mechanical separation method would be needed to make the process viable on an industrial scale. However, Chaudhuri also muses that we could all help reduce CO2 levels by exposing our egg membranes to the air after eating our eggs.
“Utilisation of eggshell membrane as an adsorbent for carbon dioxide” in Int. J. Global Warming, 2010, 2, 252-261
Finally a way to habitate Mars. Marvin the martian has a whole jar of martian eggs!
Junk science is full of stupid ideas and stupid assertions. This certainly fits.
@simplseekeraftertruth Don’t make fun of Mike the headless chicken. http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/index.php Just an eggsistential statement, that’s all.
This is not good news for people in the UK!
The local councils will now issue a new little plastic box (made in China)
for disposal off egg shells, which, if found to contain anything other than
egg shells, will result in a hefty £2,000 fine.
The “International Journal of Global Warming” … what an old-fashioned name it is.
“Global Journal of Catastrophic Climate Disruption (CCD)” or so would be more appropriate nowadays.
So what were the causes of the varying levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere before our voiceboxes were sophisticated enough to pronounce “Rajendra Pachauri”? All these mammoths with their internal combustion engines?
there is certainly an incentive for improving on this situation in order to use the membrane material in climate change amelioration.
Cash for clunkers, anyone? How about using diesel fuel to shine floodlights on solar panels to produce subsidized electricity from solar panels?
Now all eggs will be processed into powder at a central facility so the membranes can be dried and saved until someone finds a use for CO2. Did residents of the Stone Age stockpile stones because they had too many or too few? Did the Stone Age end because there were too many stones or too few?
To ameliorate climate change? What climate change? Who decides what climate to try to achieve with the storing or release of the stockpiled egg shells?
Silly. Silly. Silly.
Enneagram says:
October 26, 2010 at 8:46 am
“That’s what Nature does all the time. Have you wondered why are there so many gigantic deposits of calcite (calcium carbonate, lime, marble) all over the world?…..”Elementary my dear Watson!”
Welcome back to primary school, global warmers!”
======================================================
Amen to that! They have the uncanny ability to complicate even the most simplest concepts.
Sigh…..
Doesn’t anybody check to see if the numbers make any sense before they do a press release? Although the membrane properties of eggshells are probably very useful and interesting in many areas (health, medicine), it is ridiculous in the context of global warming.
Per the International Egg Commission (IEC), there are 4.9 billion egg laying hens in the world, maximum of 300 eggs per hen per year.
4.9×10^9 x 300 = 1.47×10^12 eggs/year in the whole world.
Surface area of an egg is about 112 cm^2.
thickness of the membrane per these researchers is 100 micrometer.
This works out to a membrane volume per egg of: .069 in^3
Assume the density of the membrane is the same as flesh, 1.4 g/cc, which is .052 lb/in^3
So the total weight of eggshell membrane IN THE WORLD (per year) is:
1.47×10^12 x .069 x .052 = 5.27 x 10^9 lb
Amount of CO2 that can be absorbed is 7x this, or 36.9 x 10^9 lbs (16.7 x 10^6 metric tons).
World output of CO2 per year (per Wikipedia): 29.3 x 10^9 metric tons
Percent of CO2 that can be absorbed if every egg membrane in the world absorbed 7x its weight in CO2: 16.7 x 10^6 / 29.3 x 10^9 = .06%.
So if we utilize 100% of the eggs in the world, and equal the lab results of 7x absorption, we can offset the CO2 output of Lithuania.
What a bloody waste of time and money!
Any good scientist would find out if the assumptions of their work – the BASIC assumptions – were true or not.
Assuming CO2 needs to be sequestered truly makes an ass out of them
The publishing of this article says more about the lack of scientific objectivity of the journal than it does about the scientific incompetence of the writers. The first question they should have asked is “How does this compare with existing natural removal processes via the Arctic Ocean, rain, and trees?” Even if you had enough egg shell membranes to continually feed all the newly designed smoke stack filters, would it make any differance in the total amount being removed from the atmosphere? This is a question that AGWers are not inclined to answer nor agenda driven journals are not inclined to ask.
International Journal of Global Warming is a legitimate publication of an outlet known as Inderscience Publicatons.
Maybe only usefull after fossil fuels run out and by then better alternatives to wind and solar could emerge. See here and here.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !
What choice do you have after you have cracked the egg open? Anything to apply for research funds into something we are already doing. Damned eggheads!
“Chaudhuri also muses that we could all help reduce CO2 levels by exposing our egg membranes to the air after eating our eggs”
Um, egg shells are porous. linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/003456877090099X
Why does anyone need to do anything? The shells will absorb an equilibrium amount of CO2 within a week anyway. In fact, how did they do their measurements? Did they first remove absorbed CO2 before measuring the uptake? Almost certainly the separation process they discuss will generate more CO2 than absorbed.
Hey – does this wind up getting counted as peer review research supporting the AGW hypothesis? Yerch.
Also – The article is online, yours for only $45.55 plus tax. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ind/ijgw/2010/00000002/00000003/art00005 . I wonder how many eggs $45.55 would buy in India.
They couldn’t even get the abstract clean:
6824 mg/g? Why not 6.824g/g? could they really measure the amount of CO2, err, COCO2 to four places? How about the membrane? Was it dry or wet? (Oh – I asked that already.)
Question: How can you make carbon dioxide into a fuel?
Answer: You can’t! Carbon dioxide is the most oxidised form of carbon. All the available chemical energy has been stripped out! Sheesh!!
If you really wanted to convert carbon dioxide into fuel I have a great idea: I will Patent as soon as I can get round to it. In the meantime, I am proposing myself to the Nobel Prize Co0mmittee.
What you do is to leave the carbon dioxide it in the air, thereby saving squillions of dollars spent on absorbing it onto Giga tonnes of egg shells spread over the Earth’s surface. (Talk about walking on eggshells …)
And then – here comes the clever bit – let it fertilise the growth of plants! The plants have a clever process of converting the Sun’s energy into a neatly packaged form of energy called wood, cellulose, whatever. It can even be used to grow food so saving the World’s starving millions.
Isn’t that worth a Nobel Prize?
Arno Arrak says: October 26, 2010 at 9:12 am
“Why do you think you have to throw this trash at us:”
“I will put these numbers into perspective for you: carbon dioxide is not the cause of any warming in recent decades. How do I know this? Because we have satellite records that prove it.
The warming we are told about began in the late seventies and Hansen testified in 1988 that the warming was here and that carbon dioxide was the cause. That testimony was false.
Ferenc Miskolczi’s work explains why this is so. …Addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere for all these years had no influence on the transparency of the atmosphere to heat radiation from below or the optical thickness would have increased, and this did not happen.
This is an empirical observation, not some theory, and it overrides any calculations from theory. It looks like the good old Arrhenius theory needs to be updated to accommodate physical reality.
===================================================================
Thanks Arno Arrak for your clear and concise summary of the situation. It dispenses with a lot of ‘gum bashing’
Doug
This proves that the spread of veganism is the root cause for AGW. 😉
Don’t let some of the AGW faithful see this. They’ll think … if one chicken egg does X, then one dinosaur egg will do 1000X. So, the next thing we’ll be seeing is a rush to build dinosaur farms. No need to worry about unintended consequences. 😉
“”” Nuke says:
October 26, 2010 at 8:06 am
Now is the time for all vegans to do their part to save the world by eating more eggs — as long as it’s free-range chicken, of course. “””
I just got back from having my annual stick for the flu shot now featuring H1N1, and who knows what other health scare scams.
I guess vegans can’t do flu shots because of the eggs. I wonder if H1N1 is on the endangered species list along with Smallpox.
I estimate an acorn can absorb 500,000 times its own weight of carbon dioxide
(from 20 grams to 10 tonnes), but I’m not a climatamologist.
John Kehr says:
October 26, 2010 at 8:49 am
I am really trying to find the right comment for this… but nothing is quite right.
May I help you?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cojones
🙂
Larry Chickola says:
October 26, 2010 at 9:31 am
“Percent of CO2 that can be absorbed if every egg membrane in the world absorbed 7x its weight in CO2: 16.7 x 10^6 / 29.3 x 10^9 = .06%.
So if we utilize 100% of the eggs in the world, and equal the lab results of 7x absorption, we can offset the CO2 output of Lithuania.”
Just create genetically manipulated chickens that lay eggs that consist entirely of eggshell membrane, and you’re set. Or give them a genetic switch that activates above 100 deg F; so that they would automatically produce incredible amounts of eggshell membrane when it’s hot. This way, you would introduce a negative feedback and we don’t have to care for anything.
Enneagram says:
October 26, 2010 at 11:46 am
John Kehr says:
October 26, 2010 at 8:49 am
I am really trying to find the right comment for this… but nothing is quite right.
May I help you?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cojones
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
¿Por qué no los huevos?
Sleepalot says:
October 26, 2010 at 11:41 am
I estimate an acorn can absorb 500,000 times its own weight of carbon dioxide
(from 20 grams to 10 tonnes), but I’m not a climatamologist.
You’re probably not far off, it would be a pretty big oak tree, but …