Now that most consumers download and stream their movies and music, more and more CDs and DVDs will end up in landfills or be recycled. But soon these discarded discs could take on a different role: curbing the release of greenhouse gases. In the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, scientists report a way to turn the discs into a material that can capture carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas, and other compounds.
Mietek Jaroniec and colleagues from Poland and the U.S. note that manufacturers typically use natural sources, such as coal and wood, to make activated carbon. The material is then incorporated in a wide range of applications from decaffeination to gas purification. More recently, scientists have been preparing activated carbon out of everyday plastic products. Jaroniec’s team wanted to try this with optical discs, a fast-growing part of our waste stream.
The researchers processed disc fragments into two kinds of activated carbon with high surface areas and large volumes of fine pore. These key characteristics allowed the materials to capture carbon dioxide. They also adsorbed hydrogen gas and benzene, a carcinogenic compound used in industrial processes. The researchers say that in addition to carbon capture applications, their materials could be used to separate volatile organic compounds and store hydrogen.
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The authors acknowledge funding from the National Science Centre of Poland.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 158,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Now that most consumers download and stream their movies and music, more and more CDs and DVDs will end up in landfills or be recycled. But soon these discarded discs could take on a different role: curbing the release of greenhouse gases. In the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, scientists report a way to turn the discs into a material that can capture carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas, and other compounds.
Mietek Jaroniec and colleagues from Poland and the U.S. note that manufacturers typically use natural sources, such as coal and wood, to make activated carbon. The material is then incorporated in a wide range of applications from decaffeination to gas purification. More recently, scientists have been preparing activated carbon out of everyday plastic products. Jaroniec’s team wanted to try this with optical discs, a fast-growing part of our waste stream.
The researchers processed disc fragments into two kinds of activated carbon with high surface areas and large volumes of fine pore. These key characteristics allowed the materials to capture carbon dioxide. They also adsorbed hydrogen gas and benzene, a carcinogenic compound used in industrial processes. The researchers say that in addition to carbon capture applications, their materials could be used to separate volatile organic compounds and store hydrogen.
###
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Science Centre of Poland.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 158,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
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“In the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, scientists report a way to turn the discs into a material that can capture carbon dioxide ….. The researchers processed disc fragments into two kinds of activated carbon with high surface areas and large volumes of fine pore. These key characteristics allowed the materials to capture carbon dioxide.”
What is the chemistry involved here ?
How exactly does this “activated carbon” “capture” carbon dioxide ?
in the Abstract to the paper, the authors state that ..
“The excellent adsorption properties of the prepared carbons
render them as potential adsorbents in CO2 capture and storage”
though they don’t say exactly how this is achieved,
and a user will have to pay $35 to read the full paper.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5b00036
in another paper it is explained that this is mostly not a chemical bonding process….
“the CO2 adsorption capacity of both solid adsorbents decreases with temperature, and it implies the existence of physical adsorption (physisorption) between the CO2 molecules and carbonaceous adsorbent. Maroto-Valer et al. (2005) reported that physisorption process involves high surface adsorption energy and molecule diffusion at elevated temperatures, which results in instability of the adsorbed gas on the surface of activated carbon and consequently, desorption process will occur”
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS
VOL. 35, 2013
Kinetic Studies on Carbon Dioxide Capture using Activated
Carbon
Nor Adilla Rashidia, Suzana Yusupa, Lam Hon Loongb
http://www.aidic.it/cet/13/35/060.pdf
there is no charge to read this paper !
I wonder if you notice a pattern. That “new” and controversial hypotheses are often flagged up by some pseudo-scientific-journal, and to read the full story and results, a user must pay a considerable fee, only to find out that the process is either hokum, or not new at all. On the other hand we see published, in full, and free of charge explanations which are seemingly far more honest about their aims and results, even if their initial premise is unproven, and seems flawed. ie. “Global warming and global climatic changes resulted from anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has become the main issue recently.”
That’s what I love about this website: Just when you think curbing or sequestrating CO2 emissions, to mitigate a non-existent problem, couldn’t get any more stupid or expensive; it does!!
+1
So put them at the top of the smokestack and they will soak up CO2. The CO2CD will then fall to the bottom of the stack. Something like a restaurant buffet plate caddy design will put the next CD in line.
Superb choice of colors!