Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have invented a powdered material that adsorbs carbon dioxide with surprising performance. Just 200 g (just under 0.5 lb) absorbs 20 kg (44 lb) of CO2, the same amount as a tree absorbs in a year.
This is called COF-999, which stands for Covalent Organic Frameworks. This term refers to a class of porous crystalline materials with large pores, sufficient surface area, and low density. This makes it suitable for direct air capture (DAC), a process that draws existing CO2 from the air. This is a breakthrough the world needs, given the alarming levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today.
How does COF-999 capture carbon from the air?
The material was developed by a team led by Omar Yagi, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and the inventor of COF. He has been developing such materials since the 1990s.
COF-999 has pores decorated with compounds called amines that can capture CO2 molecules. Its porous structure allows it to trap carbon over a large surface area, and its covalent bonds are incredibly strong. As ambient air passes through the powder, COF-999’s basic amine polymer captures and traps acidic CO2.
Zhao Chaoyang
The DAC method has traditionally used amine solutions in water, and COF-999 is a suitable material for this task in many ways. First, it doesn’t need to be heated to work. CO2 can be captured at room temperature. It can also be reused at least 100 times without degradation or loss of capacity and can selectively adsorb large amounts of CO2.
Robert Sanders / University of California, Berkeley
Additionally, study leader Zihui Zhou told the LA Times that COF-999 captures carbon dioxide “at least 10 times faster” than other DAC materials.
Once the powder has captured CO2, it is heated to 140 °F (60 °C) to release the CO2. That CO2 can be permanently sequestered in underground geological formations so it doesn’t pollute the atmosphere, or used to make materials like concrete and plastics.
Can we start purifying the air now?
DAC plants are already being installed or built around the world, but they are expensive and energy-intensive to operate. According to the World Economic Forum, it currently costs between $600 and $1,000 to remove one ton of CO2 from the air. The agency noted last year that this amount would need to fall below $200 for the technology to be widely adopted.
COF-999 needs further testing and refinement before it becomes mainstream, which could take about two years, according to Yaghi. The material can be optimized to capture more CO2 and handle more capture cycles before breaking down.
Brittany Hosea Small of the University of California, Berkeley
Yaghi also hasn’t yet clarified the manufacturing cost of COF-999, so it’s unclear how much it will contribute to reducing DAC costs. However, he pointed out that that’s fine because it doesn’t require expensive materials to manufacture.
According to the International Energy Agency, only 0.01 megatons of CO2 is currently captured annually worldwide. This is just a fraction of the 85 megatons that will need to be removed each year by 2030. Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that up to 10 billion tonnes of CO2 per year will need to be removed by 2050 to reach net-zero emissions.
There is clearly a lot of work to do. We hope to see more inventions like Goat’s wonderful yellow powder in the near future. A paper on this research was recently published in the journal Nature.
Source: University of California, Berkeley
