Scientists have developed a new method of carbon capture that can have upcycled applications in construction.
The collaborative effort involved researchers at the University of Michigan, the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Their strategy takes carbon dioxide out of the air and converts it into metal oxalates, which can later be used in cement production.
"We're not just taking carbon dioxide and burying it; we're taking it from different point sources and repurposing it for something useful," explained Michigan chemist Charles McCrory, per Tech Xplore.
The study is particularly novel in the carbon capture space because it not only pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but it also finds a way to remove some of the substantial carbon footprint from cement production. Considering that cement contributes to about 8% of annual global carbon pollution, this additional impact is significant.
Their success was contingent on the catalyst — in this case, lead — to facilitate the reaction of carbon dioxide into metal oxalates. The process traditionally needs a prohibitively large amount of lead to make the chemical reaction occur. However, the team was able to use polymers to control the environment around the catalyst to reduce the amount of lead needed.
This research is not the first to achieve upcycling carbon dioxide into making concrete — one similar study even aimed to close the loop by pulling carbon dioxide from cement production specifically and repurposing it. However, this particular research extends far beyond this one application.
"In this work, we have an example of a trace lead impurity actually being a catalyst," said Anastassia Alexandrova, the head of the UCLA arm of this project. "I believe there are many more such examples in practice catalysis and also that this is an underexplored opportunity for catalyst discovery."
Jesús Velázquez, from the UC Davis team, said that even the metal oxalates open the door to a variety of applications.
"Metal oxalates represent an underexplored frontier, serving as alternative cementitious materials, synthesis precursors, and even carbon dioxide storage solutions," he said.
While a scalable application is not imminent, McCrory notes that this breakthrough is meaningful because once the chemical reaction occurs, the carbon dioxide won't enter the atmosphere again through normal means.
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"It's a true capture process because you're making a solid from it," he said. "But it's also a useful capture process because you're making a useful and valuable material that has downstream applications."
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