In Scotland, the concept of a carbon capture plant was presented. It can slow the rise in temperature and mitigate global warming.
In the north-east of Scotland, a large enterprise will appear that can extract a significant amount of carbon dioxide from the air. According to scientists, it can process up to a million tons of carbon – the same as about 40 million trees absorb.
The produced gas can be stored for a long time deep under the seabed off the coast of Scotland. But critics argue that technology is not a “magic pill” for fighting climate change.
This direct air capture (DAC) plan is a joint venture between UK-based Storegga and Canadian Carbon Engineering. It is at a very early stage of development – they want to commission the plant in 2026.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that in order to keep the planet safe, by the end of this century, the rise in global temperatures must be contained and made so that it does not exceed 1.5 degrees.
However, in 2020 the temperature was already 1.2 degrees above the historical level. To contain the rise in temperature, the researchers propose limiting the emissions of heating gases that contribute to their rise.
Scientists at Rice University have developed a way to convert carbon from various sources into useful forms like graphene or diamonds. The new technique uses a “flash” of electricity to heat carbon. The length of the flash determines its final shape. The research is published in the journal ACS Nano.
The method itself is known as flash joule heating (FJH), and the team first described it in January 2020. An electric current is passed through the carbonaceous materials, heating them to about 2,727 ° C, which turns the carbon into pristine turbostratic graphene flakes.
The researchers have now refined the process to create other materials. The initial flashes lasted 10 milliseconds, but scientists have found that by changing their duration from 10 to 500 milliseconds, carbon can be produced in other forms. For example, in the form of nanodiamonds.
In industry, small diamonds have long been used in cutting tools and as electrical insulators.
