Environment

Miracle powder sucks CO2 out of the air 'like nothing else out there'

Miracle powder sucks CO2 out of the air 'like nothing else out there'
COF-999, shown here in its form of a yellow powder
COF-999, shown here in its form of a yellow powder, adsorbs a huge quantity of CO2 at room temperature, and can be reused at least 100 times
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COF-999, shown here in its form of a yellow powder
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COF-999, shown here in its form of a yellow powder, adsorbs a huge quantity of CO2 at room temperature, and can be reused at least 100 times
A visualization of COF-999, featuring hexagonal channels decorated with polyamines that bind CO2 molecules (blue and orange balls)
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A visualization of COF-999, featuring hexagonal channels decorated with polyamines that bind CO2 molecules (blue and orange balls)
Study author Zihui Zhou with a test sample of COF-999, standing in front of an analyzer that measures CO2 adsorption
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Study author Zihui Zhou with a test sample of COF-999, standing in front of an analyzer that measures CO2 adsorption
Study lead Omar Yaghi with molecular models of metal-organic frameworks, which predate his COFs
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Study lead Omar Yaghi with molecular models of metal-organic frameworks, which predate his COFs
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Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have invented a material in powder form that adsorbs carbon dioxide with astonishing performance. Just 200 g (a little under 0.5 lb) can suck up 44 lb (20 kg) of CO2, the same as a tree does in a year.

It's called COF-999, which is short for Covalent Organic Frameworks. The term refers to a class of porous crystalline materials that have large pores, plenty of surface area, and low density. This makes them suitable for direct air capture (DAC), the process of sucking existing CO2 out of the air. Given the alarming levels of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere today, this is the sort of breakthrough the world needs.

How does COF-999 capture carbon from the air?

The material was developed by a team led by Omar Yaghi, a professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley and the inventor of COFs. He's been developing materials like this since the 1990s.

COF-999 has pores decorated with compounds called amines, which can grab onto CO2 molecules. Its porous structure allows for a large surface area to capture carbon, while its covalent bonds are incredibly strong. As ambient air passes through the powder, the basic amine polymers in COF-999 grab onto the acidic CO2, trapping it.

A visualization of COF-999, featuring hexagonal channels decorated with polyamines that bind CO2 molecules (blue and orange balls)
A visualization of COF-999, featuring hexagonal channels decorated with polyamines that bind CO2 molecules (blue and orange balls)

While DAC methods have previously used amine solutions in water, COF-999 is a better material for the job in many ways. For starters, you don't need to heat it up to make it work; it can capture CO2 at room temperature. It can also be reused at least 100 times without degrading or losing capacity, and it can selectively adsorb a large amount of CO2.

Study author Zihui Zhou with a test sample of COF-999, standing in front of an analyzer that measures CO2 adsorption
Study author Zihui Zhou with a test sample of COF-999, standing in front of an analyzer that measures CO2 adsorption

Plus, study leader Zihui Zhou told the LA Times that COF-999 captures carbon dioxide "at least 10 times faster" than other DAC materials.

Once the powder has captured CO2, it can be heated to 140 ºF (60 ºC) to release it. That CO2 can then be sequestered permanently in underground geological formations so it doesn't pollute the atmosphere, or used to produce materials like concrete and plastic.

Can we start cleaning up our air already?

DAC plants are already in place or in the works around the world, but they're expensive and energy-intensive to run. According to the World Economic Forum, it presently costs between $600 to $1,000 to remove 1 ton of CO2 from the air; the agency noted last year that this figure needed to fall to less than $200 for the technology to be widely adopted.

As for COF-999, it needs more testing and refinement before it goes mainstream, and according to Yaghi, that could take about two years. The material can be optimized to capture more CO2 and handle more capture cycles before degrading.

Study lead Omar Yaghi with molecular models of metal-organic frameworks, which predate his COFs
Study lead Omar Yaghi with molecular models of metal-organic frameworks, which predate his COFs

Yaghi also isn't clear on what COF-999 costs to produce just yet, so we don't know how much it'll contribute to lowering DAC costs. However, he noted that it doesn't require expensive materials to manufacture, so there's that.

According to the International Energy Agency, we're currently only capturing 0.01 megatons of CO2 annually across the world. That's a tiny fraction of the 85 megatons we need to remove annually by 2030. Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates we need to remove up to 10 billion tons of CO2 annually by 2050 to achieve net zero emissions.

There's clearly a lot of work to be done – and hopefully, we'll see more inventions like Yaghi's marvelous yellow powder in the near future. A paper on the study was recently published in the journal Nature.

Source: UC Berkeley

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9 comments
9 comments
David F
And when the co2 has gone the trees also go. And the grasses, phytoplankton,...
sleekmarlin
David, are you thinking the plan is to remove all CO2 from the atmosphere? I'm guessing they will stop before that happens.
Arandor
This is nightmare fuel for trees.
Shaikh Foysal
Awesome. Produce a small amount of it. Because we also need CO2 for living. Without CO2 we may not exist.
It can be a pandora box. In wrong hand, it is a dangerous weapen.
Christian
The most bio-productive times in Earth's long history occurred when there were NO polar ice caps at all. Think about that for a moment. Sure, we and the rest of the planet will adapt to a warmer climate. And we will. The earth is littered with the remains of once great cities that were abandoned because of previous changes in climate or rivers or water supply. It doesn't happen over night, people just...move...to where the things are better. Usually where food is easier to grow.

Do you know what makes food easy to grow? CO2 and warm warm sunlight, and water falling from the sky. We get ALL of those things with "climate change".

Say this idea takes off (unfortunately) and you get a buncha factories happily churning it out and collecting a nice profit for it. What kind of legislation will have to be passed to get them to stop, or what signs of impending doom will convince them to stop? And how will you get ALL of them to stop within a short time period?
Captain Danger
so after the powder in that little bottle has been saturated it will weigh 44 lbs.?
I am sure that they only checked this on .001 grams and extrapolated the results.
If it scales up then I will be impressed.

moreover
Our regular carbon cycle is sufficient to handle the CO2 needs of plant life. The excess CO2 we need to get rid off stems from the burning of fossil fuels which was entrapped in oil and gas millions of years ago over long periods of time but is not being released in massive quantities over just decades, turning it into a strong climate forcing.
Voice of Reason
@Christian, there are hundreds of trillions of dollars' worth of infrastructure at risk of destruction due to rising sea levels caused by increased CO2 concentration. It's not plausible to just 'get up and move'. Its many magnitudes cheaper to remove the CO2 from the atmosphere, back to the levels it was for the millennia before our use of fossil fuels increased it to these dangerous levels.
Aross
Business is always looking for ways to make mega profits, that is the reason we have all these problems. The solutions are simple. If you have too much plastic, stop using it. If you are producing too much CO2 than stop producing it. Unfortunately this will cost money and cut into corporate profits so they will not comply. It is time governments grow some and do the right thing by legislating some control over the polluters.