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]