Heard about this like 6 months ago. Wasn't aware i was leading edge on
technology information. Yahoo this makes my week thanks for the pick me up.

Good travels
Poet

--- In tomorrow-energy@yahoogroups.com, "dan brown" <b24664050@...> wrote:
>
> BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Synthetic trees could purify air
>
> Synthetic trees could purify air
>
> By Molly Bentley
>
>
>
> The invention is confined to paper so far
> A scientist has invented an artificial tree designed to do the job
> of plants.
> But the synthetic tree proposed by Dr Klaus Lackner does not much
> resemble the leafy variety.
> "It looks like a goal post with Venetian blinds," said the
Columbia
> University physicist, referring to his sketch at the annual
meeting
> of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in
> Denver, Colorado.
> But the synthetic tree would do the job of a real tree, he said.
It
> would draw carbon dioxide out of the air, as plants do during
> photosynthesis, but retain the carbon and not release oxygen.
> If built to scale, according to Dr Lackner, synthetic trees could
> help clean up an atmosphere grown heavy with carbon dioxide, the
> most abundant gas produced by humans and implicated in climate
> warming.
> He predicts that one synthetic tree could remove 90,000 tonnes of
> CO2 in a year - the emissions equivalent of 15,000 cars.
> "You can be a thousand times better than a living tree," he said.
> Carbon sinks
> For now, the synthetic tree is still a paper idea. But Dr Lackner
is
> serious about developing a working model. His efforts suggest the
> wide net of ideas cast by scientists as they face the challenge of
> mitigating climate change.
> Dr Lackner believes that carbon sequestration technology must be
> part of the long-term solution. Global reliance on fossil fuels
> would not decrease any time soon, he said, and developing
countries
> cannot be expected to wait until alternatives are available.
> The technology calls for two things: seizing carbon and then
storing
> it. Direct capture of CO2, from power plants for example, is the
> simplest, according to Dr Lackner. But this doesn't work for all
> polluters. A car can't capture and store its carbon dioxide
> on-board; the storage tank would be too large.
> "It's simply a question of weight," he said. "For every 14 grams
of
> gasoline you use, you are going to have 44 grams of CO2."
> The alternative is to capture emissions from the wind. In this
case,
> a synthetic tree would act like a filter. An absorbent coating,
such
> as limewater, on its slats or "leaves" would seize carbon dioxide
> and retain the carbon.
> Dr Lackner predicts that the biggest expense would be in recycling
> the absorber material.
> "We have to keep the absorbent surfaces refreshed because they
will
> very rapidly fill up with carbon dioxide," he said. If an alkaline
> solution such as limewater were used, the resulting coat of
> limestone would need to be removed.
> Dr Lackner is considering other less-alkaline solutions to prevent
> carbonate precipitation.
> "There are a number of engineering issues which need to be worked
> out," he said.
> Home use
> A synthetic tree could be planted anywhere. A small one could sit
> like a TV on the lawn to balance out the CO2 emitted by one person
> or family.
> But more practically, said Dr Lackner, a device the size of a barn
> would sit in the open air, near repositories for easy
transportation
> and storage of carbon.
> He estimated that 250,000 synthetic trees worldwide would be
needed
> to soak up the 22 billion tonnes of CO2 produced annually.
> But not everyone is rooted to the idea. Massachusetts Institute of
> Technology engineer Howard Herzog thinks Dr Lackner's design will
> not hold together on the scale he proposes.
> He said you would expend more energy in capturing the CO2 - in
> keeping the slats coated in absorbent and disposing of it - than
you
> would save.
> "Once the solvent captures the CO2, it holds it on tight," said Dr
> Herzog, "and it's going to take a lot of energy to break those
> bonds."
> He said that much more research was needed on the technology.
> "The idea of air capture is seductive and would really be great to
> have," said Dr Herzog, "but it's important to separate out the
> concept from the technical details."
> 'Early days'
> Meanwhile, Dr Lackner is pursuing his idea for carbon storage.
While
> he was at the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National
> Laboratory, his team worked on a storage method based on a natural
> chemical process known as rock weathering.
> When CO2 binds with magnesium, it creates carbonate rocks which,
> according to Dr Lackner, retain carbon permanently and safely.
> Currently, he said, the process is still too expensive to develop
on
> a large scale.
> But Dr Lackner is optimistic that the costs for carbon capture and
> storage will come down.
> "This is still the early days of climate solutions," he said.
>