Chennai: The entire globe is trending with the climate change topic after the conclusion of the Paris climate conference where close to 200 nations struck a deal to cut the carbon footprint. Here in Chennai that was left devastated by floods which many blame on climate change, a group of researchers has made a breakthrough that might be a turning point towards a low-carbon future.
In path breaking research that would put a lid on major polluters like CO2 (carbon-dioxide), which contributes to 60% of total pollution and global warming, Anna University has successfully carried out a project that captures and coverts CO2 into useful products like bricks, carbonate and carboxylic acids.
The researchers say the technology, when made foolproof, can be adopted by major polluting industries like coal fired power plants, steel and aluminum manufacturing firms to ensure zero discharge of CO2 into Earth’s atmosphere.
In Chennai that was left devastated by floods which many blame on climate change, a group of researchers has made a breakthrough that might be a turning point towards a low-carbon future.
“It’s a culmination of three years of effort. An experimental laboratory was step-up at a cost of Rs 55 lakh, which was funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi. Only recently, we have submitted the report and the project tasted great success, although it was only at laboratory level. The next step would be the field level experiments,” said Dr K. Palanivelu, director, Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation Research, Anna University.
Dr Palanivelu said there were two focus areas. One was the Carbon-dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) or CO2 sequestration and another is CO2 utilisation to permanently tap the pollutant.
A total of three Ph.D students have worked on the project and have published four research papers under the guidance of Dr Palanivelu. A Ph.D scholar T.D. Rushendra Revathy told the Deccan Chronicle that she used three types of waste alkaline materials – Fly ash (thermal power plants), steel making slag (steel firms) and red mud (aluminum firms) – which contain 15 per cent CO2 and rest is nitrogen.
“We were able tap the CO2 through mineral carbonation technology and convert it into bricks, which are strong enough to be used in construction industry, and they act as physical carbon sinks”.
She said the thermal power plants in India can adopt this technology that will also help them to manufacture by-products and earn profits. In the process, they are permanently trapping carbon emissions.
Dr Palanivelu said some of the developed countries like Australia and UK are also doing similar research on a pilot scale. Across the globe, CO2 is now being seen as a raw material for several applications. Some are trying to convert it into super critical fluid to be used for cleaning purposes.
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