Okie, before I go on, I wish to take this moment to apologize for the long silence with my post. Now that I'm into my last month of my studies, I was busy with assignments, lab reports, presentations, and of course, my thesis. Well I've done the first three, but I still got the thesis to work on for the final presentationg and publishing. So all the best of luck to everyone who will be taking their exams! ^_^ Anyway.....
Ever wondered exactly what does mineral water bottle or DVD are made of? Answer: polycarbonate plastics. On to the next question, is it possible to extract the carbon dioxide from smokestack (as in those big smokes coming out of those huge chimneys)? And use that carbon dioxide as a raw material for polycarbonate plastics? If ya answered NO, then that information was so yesterday (well actually off by a week).
How I came to stumble with this information? Well it all started when I wanted to check my email last night, and I recieved a message from the Marine Biology International yahoo group. The message provided a link on a news article about US government spying on environmental groups. I found the article quite interesting and I pondered to the thought of the harsh espionage treatment an environmental conservationist would get. Afterwards, I decided to check out the news site, Mother Jones, and they have such interesting articles on current issues ranging from politics to blogs. Then I decided to look up into the Environmental & Health section, which led me to the article that really got my jaw dropped. The title reads out, "Lock Up CO2 In DVDs."
According to the article, during the 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting held in New Orleans last week, Prof. Thomas E. Müller and Dr. Toshiyasu Sakakura conduct a press conference that discussed about their research, "DVDs and CD-Roms that Thwart Global Warming," on how carbon dioxide can be use as raw materials for the polycarbonates plastics. According to Prof. Thomas Müller, he mentioned how carbon dioxide is so abundant as a raw material and that this method can help to reduce the carbon dioxide emission. Although this may sound good news, I would have to agree with Julia Whitty, Mother Jones's environmental correspondent, as she quote:
"Good idea: make polycarbonates from waste CO2.
Better idea: make less pollution and less polycarbonate plastics."
So exactly how would the carbon dioxide be collected? Well I went for further reading and I stumble upon this article from MSNBC, "Remove CO2 from air? Experts working on it - One approach uses lye to absorb greenhouse gas." The article mentions of two mechanisms: i) to suck out the air and have the carbon dioxide react with lye to turn into limestone and then sublimed (making solid turn into gas) back into gas; ii) to use solar heat to extract the carbon dioxide; and iii) similar method in number two but to use electrochemistry instead. Frank Zeman from Columbia University described the use of his device to direct the air through a chamber and is react with lye (sodium hydroxide) which will absorb the carbon dioxide into liquid form. Afterwards, the liquified carbon dioxide is mixed with lime to produce limestone, which is later baked in a kiln (which is like an oven) to release and then store the carbon dioxide. These methods are still in the experimental phase, but are still hopeful to yield much benefits in the future.
Ever wondered exactly what does mineral water bottle or DVD are made of? Answer: polycarbonate plastics. On to the next question, is it possible to extract the carbon dioxide from smokestack (as in those big smokes coming out of those huge chimneys)? And use that carbon dioxide as a raw material for polycarbonate plastics? If ya answered NO, then that information was so yesterday (well actually off by a week).
How I came to stumble with this information? Well it all started when I wanted to check my email last night, and I recieved a message from the Marine Biology International yahoo group. The message provided a link on a news article about US government spying on environmental groups. I found the article quite interesting and I pondered to the thought of the harsh espionage treatment an environmental conservationist would get. Afterwards, I decided to check out the news site, Mother Jones, and they have such interesting articles on current issues ranging from politics to blogs. Then I decided to look up into the Environmental & Health section, which led me to the article that really got my jaw dropped. The title reads out, "Lock Up CO2 In DVDs."
According to the article, during the 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting held in New Orleans last week, Prof. Thomas E. Müller and Dr. Toshiyasu Sakakura conduct a press conference that discussed about their research, "DVDs and CD-Roms that Thwart Global Warming," on how carbon dioxide can be use as raw materials for the polycarbonates plastics. According to Prof. Thomas Müller, he mentioned how carbon dioxide is so abundant as a raw material and that this method can help to reduce the carbon dioxide emission. Although this may sound good news, I would have to agree with Julia Whitty, Mother Jones's environmental correspondent, as she quote:
"Good idea: make polycarbonates from waste CO2.
Better idea: make less pollution and less polycarbonate plastics."
So exactly how would the carbon dioxide be collected? Well I went for further reading and I stumble upon this article from MSNBC, "Remove CO2 from air? Experts working on it - One approach uses lye to absorb greenhouse gas." The article mentions of two mechanisms: i) to suck out the air and have the carbon dioxide react with lye to turn into limestone and then sublimed (making solid turn into gas) back into gas; ii) to use solar heat to extract the carbon dioxide; and iii) similar method in number two but to use electrochemistry instead. Frank Zeman from Columbia University described the use of his device to direct the air through a chamber and is react with lye (sodium hydroxide) which will absorb the carbon dioxide into liquid form. Afterwards, the liquified carbon dioxide is mixed with lime to produce limestone, which is later baked in a kiln (which is like an oven) to release and then store the carbon dioxide. These methods are still in the experimental phase, but are still hopeful to yield much benefits in the future.
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