CARBON CAPTURE: A RESEARCH PROJECT, NOT A REALITY

Even the headline of this story is misleading: It MIGHT help tackle global warming if research proves it out.

Carbon-Capture Technology to Help UK Tackle Global Warming
July 27, 2007 (University of Nottingham press release via Science Daily)

WHO
Dr Mercedes Maroto-Valer, Associate Professor/Reader in Energy Technology, University of Nottingham's School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering;
The UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);

WHAT
The Centre for Innovation in Carbon Capture and Storage (CICCS), funded with 1.1 billion pounds awarded by EPSRC to Dr Maroto-Valer, will study technologies to trap and store greenhouse gases (GHGs).
The process of carbonation by which GHGs are neutralized and recycled. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
The Centre will open in October 2007.

WHERE
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England (at the edge of Robin Hood’s home grounds, Sherwood Forest)

WHY
- Many tout the development of GHG-capturing coal- and gas-burning power plants as the solution to climate change but the technology is not proven or standardized. This Centre will study various technologies and partner with industry and other research facilities.
- CICCS is charged with selecting a safe method of capture and storage, creating interfaces with multiple science and engineering disciplines.
- One innovative process to be studied involves burning fossil fuel extractions with a serpentine, a silicate, which turns the emissions inert. This mimics a slow-working natural process. It results in magnesite, a material that can be recycled as a construction material.
- Geologic sequestration will also be studied.
Serpentine crystals with sequesterd GHGs. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
Dr Maroto-Valer: “The novel technologies developed at the Centre will enable the UK to meet its targets for the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and thus help the UK to play its part in global efforts to tackle climate change…The way we will approach this problem is unique. The CICCS will bring together engineers, mathematicians, bioscientists, geographers, geologists and end-users in a 'hot-house' environment that encourages creative problem-solving.”