Carbon Harvested from the Air Using Capture Technology from German Researchers

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 13 January 2023, 08:01 pm

Researchers from the Karlsruher Institut Für Technologie (KIT) in Germany have revealed their latest development that aims to make the world carbon-neutral in the future. This project features a carbon-capture technology that uses the carbon dioxide from the air and separates it to extract the material and rid of what it leaves the world.

The goal is to lessen the massive carbon production of the world, as it is present in almost everything, even plants, and humans.

Carbon Harvested from the Air by German Researchers

(Photo : Markus Breig, KIT)
The new NECOC facility at KIT produces the high-tech resource carbon out of the climate-harming CO2 in the ambient air.

According to a press release from KIT (via EurekAlert), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has a 1.5-degree target toward its climate neutrality goals. Dr. Benjamin Dietrich said that "We have to find completely new technological solutions if we want to keep up industrial production," for its future operations.

One of the main causes of the infamous greenhouse gases is industrial production, but that is not something that would be sacrificed as it creates many of what people see in the modern day.

KIT, alongside INERATEC and Climeworks, have worked together to create the NECOC (NEgative CarbOn Dioxide to Carbon) which transforms the gas byproduct into solid carbon.

The team already installed and uses its first project phase, a container-sized facility that already transforms nearly 0.5 kilograms of carbon in a full day.

Carbon-Neutral Goals for the Future

The team's NECOC separates carbon from oxygen, as found in CO2 emissions in the air from different industries. Being in its early phase in the present, there is more than the team would do in its steps towards carbon neutrality in the future, centering on its goals to reduce the country's emissions and contributions to the current state of the environment.

Carbon Capture Technology

Capturing carbon from the air is not viable using one's two hands, and special apparatuses and instruments were developed by researchers to help the world rid of these nasty greenhouse gas. While carbon is not exactly a greenhouse gas, its byproduct when bonding with oxygen molecules produces the primary source of what warms up the planet.

In an effort to reduce waste and carbon build-up, there were several projects aimed to rid carbon from the atmosphere, especially as it continuously traps in hot air that contributes to global warming. There are different designs and applications for carbon capture technology available, and one is the famous "Carbon sponge" which absorbs everything that passes through it.

Different countries and research teams aim to develop the best carbon capture technology there is, and while they differ in look and applications, all have the same goal of a carbon-neutral future. KIT researchers are still developing their technology, one that could remove as much as half a kilogram a day, at a time.