We are inundated daily with information pertaining to the effects of carbon and the threat it poses to our environment and the reactive tax which poses a huge threat to the cash in our wallets. Carbon is vilified on a daily basis in the media.
Hydrogen is first on the periodic table of elements, carbon is the sixth. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, carbon is the fourth, and both elements establish fundamental influences on our very existence. While hydrogen is known for its energy producing attributes, carbon is considered more of a threat. What if this perception could be changed? What if atmospheric carbon was established as a source of revenue, a resource to be harvested, and a fundamental building block of modern society which provides valuable commodities for a growing economy? If carbon dioxide could provide wealth by its removal from the atmosphere, and removal from the waste streams of the very processes which release it into the environment, would it not kill the proverbial “two fowl” with one fell swoop?
With GHG emissions and global warming concerns in the forefront of the worlds focus, carbon capture has become of great interest to the innovation community. As such the Carbon Xprize, a competition dedicated to turning CO2 into useful products, was started in 2015. With a prize totalling some US$20 million, the competition began with an initial 46 team from 10 countries; it is in its final stages with 10 contestants from five countries.
Canada is well represented in this final competition with four teams in the running, the other six from India, Scotland, China, and the United States. These finalists will demonstrate their technologies at two venues, Alberta’s very own, Alberta Carbon Conversion Technology Centre, in Calgary, and the Wyoming Integrated Test Center, in Gillette.
At the Wyoming Integrated Test Center, the team from India, “Breathe”, will demonstrate a novel catalyst for producing methanol. The Canadian entry, Carbon Cure, will present a technology which will use carbon dioxide to strengthen an environmentally-friendly concrete. China’s team, C4X, is working on bio-composite foamed plastic, and “Carbon Capture Machine” from Scotland, is trying to produce solid carbonates for use in construction. The United States entry, Carbon Upcycling from UCLA California, is developing a concrete replacement that absorbs CO2 during production.
At the Alberta Carbon Conversion Technology Centre, the other five teams, namely, Carbicrete, from Montreal, will work on cement–free carbon negative concrete made from the wasted produced during steel production. One US entry, C2CNT will demonstrate the production of carbon nanotubes, and the other US entry, “Newlight”, from California, will use biological systems to create bioplastics. Carbon Upcycling Technologies, from Calgary, will demonstrate graphitic nanoparticles and graphene derivatives for polymers, epoxies and batteries, while “CERT”, from Toronto will exhibit new building blocks for industrial chemicals.
If carbon dioxide can be proven a valuable commodity, not only will these companies possibly win a prize, but they may also prosper. Ultimately humanity may have much to thank them for.
Lorne Oja can be reached at lorne@solartechnical.ca