A Promising New Development to Extracting CO2 Out of Our Atmosphere
April 5, 2023
CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) has been a problem in our atmosphere for around 73 years. Environmentalists and Scientists have been trying several methods of technology that can take CO2 out of our atmosphere and pave the way for a more sustainable future but it hasn’t been easy. Fortunately, there has recently been hope for a new way of getting rid of the toxic greenhouse gas in our air and storing it somewhere else. This would consist of absorbing the air from our atmosphere, filtering the carbon dioxide molecules from it, and turning them into soda bicarbonate which can then be stored safely in the sea; this method is also less costly. Doing this creates a simpler way of helping save our planet and lessens the pollution of toxic greenhouse gasses, especially in highly polluted places. Dr. Sen Gupta is an author and inventor who created the first reusable material-form of arsenic-safe water called HAIX-Nano, and he believes, “-removing CO2 in this way will not only be critical to limiting the rise in global temperature but could also be directly empowering for developing countries.” (McGrath). This method of storing CO2 is efficient because it uses chemical processes and will help rather than hurt humans and the environment.
The chemical process that happens in this method of reducing CO2 in the atmosphere is when carbon dioxide is mixed with sodium hydroxide to make soda bicarbonate which can then dissolve into seawater without harming any ocean life. Being able to take carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere and safely store it somewhere else is an extremely great step in the right direction considering greenhouse gasses like CO2 continue to be a huge pollution problem. Although the biggest issue of this is being able to absorb CO2 from the air due to costly machinery and energy, environmental scientists continue to work on new and promising ideas like this.