Diamonds with Recycled CO2






We have already talked about the possibility of capturing CO2 directly from the air and also about the energy requirements that this technology would have. But on this occasion I want to talk about one of the uses that captured carbon would have: becoming diamond. That is, competing with nature, which has taken years with high pressure and temperature to convert carbon into diamonds, to produce laboratory diamonds with captured carbon.

The idea of producing laboratory diamonds is not new; we could trace it back to the 19th century. In our times, for some years now, it is already an increasingly common reality; diamonds have been created in controlled environments, in laboratories that use cutting-edge technology to replicate natural processes such as high pressure and temperature that are involved in the transformation of graphite into diamond.

As is well known, since the end of the 18th century it was discovered that diamonds were, in reality, pure carbon. Then, multiple efforts began to develop them with a certain degree of economic viability. The first laboratory diamonds appeared in the 1950s and became popular from the 1970s and 1980s.

It should be noted that when we think of diamonds, those used for jewelry quickly come to mind, particularly in engagement rings and other high-end jewelry. However, diamonds, which do not necessarily have the aesthetic characteristics of the diamonds used in jewelry, are also used in other industries such as machinery and cutting equipment, thermal conductors, electronics, optical materials and even lasers.

The idea, then, is simple, at least in concept. Capture CO2 from the air, with the technology that we have already analyzed, to convert the captured CO2 into diamonds using laboratory processes. With this, it avoids the greenhouse effect that causes global warming and climate change, at the same time that it creates a desired product.

A company in the United States even already sells the idea of laboratory diamond jewelry that offsets your greenhouse gas emissions. The company is called Aether and maintains that each carat removes at least 20 tons of CO2 in the air; which is equivalent to offsetting 2 and a half years of emissions of an average person.

The process to convert the captured CO2 is that of high temperature and high pressure, which is the oldest and cheapest to date. The process requires an internal temperature of 1400º Celsius and high pressure to convert the captured CO2 into diamonds. The diamond produced is jewelry-grade because of its high market value, which competes with natural diamonds.

As we pointed out last week, to the high energy cost of capturing CO2 directly from the air is added the cost of the process of heating the CO2 to 1400º Celsius and subjecting it to high pressure. Therefore, if energy from conventional sources is used, the final CO2 balance would be negative. For this, the company uses renewable energy sources, with which it complements, at least in theory, the virtuous cycle of circular energy.

Without a doubt, recycled CO2 diamonds are not natural diamonds, but in practice they are identical and difficult to determine if they are from laboratories. In addition, they have an advantage by eliminating the problems of conflict, environment and monopolistic practices that have characterized the industry. And you, would you buy a recycled CO2 diamond?

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: April 14, 2021
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/diamantes-con-co2-reciclado/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240223124233/https://businessinsider.mx/diamantes-con-co2-reciclado/ [Archived]

Recycled CO2






Modern societies are very familiar with the topic of recycling. We know that aluminum cans, plastic containers, cardboard, paper, glass and metals can be recycled to reduce the exploitation of natural resources and the impact on the environment. But, what about the CO2 that has already been emitted? Could we recycle it?

This idea is being developed strongly in Europe and other countries of the world. It is a different process from CO2 sequestration and storage, where equipment is installed to capture it directly from the chimneys of combustion or production processes and it is stored underground. In this case, CO2 is captured directly from the air; this implies that gas that was already emitted can be recovered and without installing mechanisms next to fixed sources of emission.

Mining the air to capture CO2 already emitted —recycling it, then— is particularly useful if we consider that between 15% and 20% of greenhouse gas emissions come from mobile sources, particularly motor vehicles, airplanes, railways and ships.

Climateworks, a Swiss company, installed the first commercial plant for direct CO2 capture that uses the adsorption-desorption technique. This means that the gaseous substance comes into contact with an adsorbent solid and adheres to the surface; then it is released through the surface, which allows the CO2 from the air that came into contact with the system to be filtered.

Climateworks’ solution is capable of capturing 900 tons of CO2 per year and its estimated cost is around 600 dollars per ton of captured gas. This is around 0.60 dollars per kilo of CO2. What does this imply? That recycling this gas would increase by almost 300% the cost of electric energy in the cheapest and least polluting plant in the world.

From this, two conclusions are extracted. First: the cost of recycling CO2 directly from the air is still very high; second: the cost of energy still does not reflect the total cost of the negative externalities related to the use of fossil sources.

Despite this, this effort has a lot of room to incorporate technological efficiencies and reduce its costs in the future.

Finally, since close to 75% of global CO2 equivalent emissions come from the energy sector, we can say that it would be one of the first efforts aimed at the development of an energy sector based on circular economy, that is, the first steps to introduce circular energy into practice.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: March 30, 2021
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/co2-reciclado/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240523093445/https://businessinsider.mx/co2-reciclado/ [Archived]

The Carbon Spheres






The answer to solving the problem of carbon emissions could be in carbon capture itself and the development of commercial applications for this byproduct, such as coal spheres or carbon spheres.

Carbon spheres have great potential that ranges from energy storage to pharmaceuticals and are produced at micro and nanoscales. If you remember your secondary school classes, the submultiples of the meter are: deci, centi, milli, micro, nano, pic, etcetera. If we normally use centimeters on measuring rulers, then they are much smaller scales.

At a microscopic level we can observe cells, bacteria, chromosomes and the first transistors of the 1970s. At the nano level we can observe genes, viruses, quantum dots and the increasingly smaller modern processors. At those scales, almost at a molecular level, are carbon spheres.

When these spheres have small pores of less than 1 nanometer, they have high potential to capture carbon at atmospheric level and at low pressures. Temperature is important since when they are at 0 degrees Celsius, they can capture 4 millimolars of carbon dioxide per gram. When the temperature increases to 25 degrees, the capture drops to 3 millimolars.

However, the optimal temperature for the formation of carbon spheres is 800 degrees Celsius. That is, an enormous amount of energy is required, which can have an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Like every incipient technology at this moment we could think that carbon spheres are expensive and impractical because they require processes that generate a strong carbon footprint. But it is a very important scientific and technological development because of the opportunities it opens in other areas.

That is to say that the capture of carbon dioxide is not the only application that has been found for carbon spheres. They have the potential to help in the development of batteries for renewable energies since they are resistant and conduct electricity with a wide surface; also for the storage of hydrogen in the form of gas, which could generate new areas of interest for the green hydrogen cycle, storage and electric generation whose byproduct is water.

On the other hand, pharmaceutical applications have also been sought, for example, the use of carbon spheres as a means of transporting medicines because it has low cellular toxicity and a dosing profile with low pH. This could be key to transforming chemotherapy treatment, since it would rapidly distribute drugs against cancer in microenvironments, inhibiting the growth of cancerous tumors.

But leaving aside the pharmaceutical application, scientific development —which is still far from generating commercial applications— suggests that development would advance the low-carbon economy. The paradox, then, is that the answer to carbon emissions – and others such as methane emissions – could be in the research itself of carbon, particularly, carbon spheres.

One more example that scientific and technological progress can bring the solutions for a better future, for the development of a clean energy sector and for the construction of a low-carbon economy. Let us go, then, to search for the carbon spheres, which will be, without a doubt, a fantastic adventure.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: March 10, 2021
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/esferas-carbon-carbono-opinion-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221207122752/https://businessinsider.mx/esferas-carbon-carbono-opinion-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [Archived]