[Terrapreta] BASF's CO2 Scrubbing ZIF

[Mark Ludlow]

Hi Lorenzo,

 

Yes I read the paper (and enjoyed it!).

 

Ma Nature has been doing geo-sequestration of CO2 for some eons now,
resulting in the White Cliffs of Dover and other massive limestone
formations. I suppose if we could burn these fossil deposits for energy, the
Cliffs would be somewhat less imposing by now. Instead,  we use fossil fuels
to drive off the CO2 from calcium carbonate in the process of making
Portland cement, further adding to our GHG woes.

 

Schemes about circumventing the earth's natural (but dynamically sluggish)
ability to modulate atmospheric CO2 by oceanic absorption and thermohaline
circulation, by artificially sequestering frozen CO2 at great depths, is
somewhat reminiscent of earlier schemes of dealing with nuclear waste by
blasting it off into Space. The theoretical underpinnings are in place but
compared to sequestration via biochar or natural development of marine
sediments, it's like swatting flies with a laser.

 

I'm not a technophobe, nor do I believe that the "ancients" were necessarily
wise in the way we give them credit for in such things as Terra Preta. But
one thing for certain: BASF is not a philanthropic organization and while
their zeolite absorption of CO2 may make sense for some isolated industrial
processes, it can't approach the economy or pure elegance of converting
water and CO2 to carbohydrates by the "old-fashioned"
method-photosynthesis-or allowing CO2 to form the carbonates that infill the
exoskeletons of many marine organisms.

 

Rapid depressions of pH in the upper strata of the oceanic basins could
threaten the natural process of sequestration via carbonation, but higher
levels of atmospheric CO2 could have a feed-forward, amplifying effect on
our efforts to employ photosynthesis as the first step of a char-based
sequestration effort.

 

Best regards,

Mark

 

 

 

 

From: Biopact [mailto:biopact at biopact.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 6:56 AM
To: mark at ludlow.com
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] BASF's CO2 Scrubbing ZIF

 

Hi Mark, 

it's not "either or", it's "and ... and".  You can combine biomass
("photosynthesis") with carbon capture and storage (CCS - geosequestration).

 

Have you read the recent paper on the environmental consequences of biochar,
written by Dominic Woolf (here:
http://orgprints.org/13268/01/Biochar_as_a_soil_amendment_-_a_review.pdf ) .
In it, he shows that biomass+CCS might actually be cheaper than biochar,
because you can sequester far more carbon with it per unit of energy
generated / per ton of biomass used.

 

So think of it: coupling ZIF-based CO2 capturing technology to biomass-fired
power plants might be pretty interesting.

 

Cheers, 

Lorenzo

 

 

 

 

 

 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Mark Ludlow <mailto:mark at ludlow.com>  

To: Shengar at aol.com ; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 

Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 4:23 AM

Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] BASF's CO2 Scrubbing ZIF

 

Hi Erich,

 

This is an interesting development. Unfortunately, it depends on
zeolite-like structures to "trap" CO2 in a lattice "cage".

 

This is only one part of the sequestration issue. Next is: "What do you do
with it?" If you don't regenerate the zeolite there's little practical
utility; Given the 1:8 volumetric absorption ratio claimed,  this seems only
useful for specialized applications. In reasonable quantities, ordinary
zeolites useful for  capturing H2O (or NH3) are $2/kg. This would make the
cost of this method-if used for sequestration-prohibitively costly.

 

Perhaps if the trapped CO2 could be released at the bottom of the ocean or
something. There's not much that reacts with CO2, without catalytic
intervention. Photosynthesis is looking better all the time!

 

Best regards,

Mark

 

 

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Shengar at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 6:24 PM
To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Subject: [Terrapreta] BASF's CO2 Scrubbing ZIF

 

BASF's CO2 Scrubbing ZIF........also can be modified for other gases. This
may facilitate Biofuel gas separation, I haven't seen any cost estimates
yet.

 

 Selectively removing carbon dioxide from waste streams

A breakthrough by a team of scientists in the US has overcome the challenge
of selectively removing carbon dioxide from waste gases. It all relies on a
new class of porous materials called ZIFs

http://www.engineerlive.com/features/20086/selectively-removing-carbon-dioxi
de-from-waste-streams.thtml

 

 

Cheers,

Erich

 


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