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Turning Atmospheric CO2 into Carbon Nanofibers

Researchers at George Washington University, led by Dr. Stuart Licht, have found a way to use atmospheric CO2 to produce high-yield carbon nanofibers  –  i.e., “diamonds from the sky”.  I think this is a great way to help alleviate the concerns of those who feel that man-made CO2 emissions are contributing to global warming.  If we can use atmospheric CO2 as a feed stock to produce carbon nanofibers so much the better.

The process they developed is efficient and low energy. “ Licht estimates  electrical energy costs of this ‘solar thermal electrochemical process’ to be around $1,000 per ton of carbon nanofiber product, which means the cost of running the system is hundreds of times less than the value of product output.” 

“We calculate that with a physical area less than 10 percent the size of the Sahara Desert, our process could remove enough CO2 to decrease atmospheric levels to those of the pre-industrial revolution within 10 years,” he says.
With the enormous growth in the global use of carbon nanofibers and their application, this seems like a great way to reduce greenhouse gas and at the same time provide a valuable source of carbon nanofibers.  Applications using carbon nanofibers have exploded over the past years including their use in coatings.

The research work was just presented August 19, 2015 at the 250th meeting of the American Chemical Society. More about the actual process can be learned from the press release.  See
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2015/august/co2.html

Darlene

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