Rice University researchers have developed an electrochemical reactor that has the potential to drastically reduce energy consumption for direct air capture, the removal of carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.
The new reactor design could be a part of the solution to the pressing problem of emission impacts on the climate and biosphere by enabling more agile and scalable carbon dioxide mitigation strategies.
A study in Nature Energy describes the specialized reactor as having a modular, three-chambered structure with a carefully engineered porous solid electrolyte layer at its core. Haotian Wang, a Rice chemical and biomolecular engineer whose lab has been researching industrial decarbonization and energy conversion and storage solutions, said the work “represents a big milestone in carbon capture from the atmosphere.”
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