Carbon Capture X-Prize

[Jason Cummer]

Hi there,

A new 20 million dollar X-Prize for carbon capture and conversion in to a useful product was just announced on the 29th of September. 

Here is the link if your interested 

http://carbon.xprize.org/

I have been working on some ideas for this for a few years now. I was thinking it would be interesting to see if others in Victoria might be interested in creating a team.

I have researched a Cu halide  system as well as an electrolytic deposition system that could fit into the competition. 

We might be able to find something better too. 

Let me know if you have any interest in creating a team

Cheers,

Jason Cummer

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[Brian White]

This following  isn't direct carbon capture.   Is there a way of making calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide from calcium carbonate  with electrolysis?  The normal way of making it is brute force heating to drive off the CO2.    I think that if it could be made directly from solar,  lime making becomes a carbon neutral industry.  And if it could be integrated with greenhouses,  the CO2 is immediately useful as a plant food.     Lime (calcium hydroxide)  is used in stucco and various mortars.  

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[Jason Cummer]

ill think more about the reverse electrolysis of CaCO3 but initially I doubt it.

My first thought is a Fresnel  lens to heat it but yeah that's heating it

Jason Cummer

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[Jason Cummer]

Also one of the conditions for a final stage is 2 tonnes of CO2 converted in a day with less then a 2.3 km^2 environmental foot print. so maybe plants algae perhaps too. An area where there has been more work into already in terms of creating a useful byproduct(gas)

Jason Cummer

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[Brian White]

Azolla converts CO2 AND fixes nitrogen out of the air.    I have some or  you can grab some from Canor nurseries.  Best place to grow it is in the shade of another plant, (I think). It has a weird red tint in direct sunlight.  It grows in standing water, but mosquitos are a problem if you do that.   It will also grow on a layer of wet soil or on rubber mats as long as they have a drip of water on them. When it grows really well on soil, it can grow up to half an inch thick.  It is supposed to be a good chicken food.   (My goldfish eat duckweed but they don't like azolla). It's a pretty interesting plant. As long as it does not freeze, the thing seems to survive the winter. 

[Eric Davies]

The first thought I would have is:

    Is this CO2  a byproduct of industrial processes making stuff, or is it the end product of burning some form of carbon for fuel. If it's the latter, it's a waste of time because you'll be putting in at least as much energy as you got out from the burning. 

Second thought : what is the concentration of CO2 in the gasses input? What contaminants?

Eric Davies

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[Brian White]

I agree with Eric "is it the end product of burning some form of carbon for fuel. If it's the latter, it's a waste of time because you'll be putting in at least as much energy as you got out from the burning"  unless you are using distributed small scale solar energy to capture the carbon. It is easy to stick a solar panel here there and everywhere,  but it is super expensive to connect all this to the grid or store the energy in batteries.  If you can capture carbon with a small scale  stand alone solar panel "device",  it may merit a careful look because it does not have the "super expense" energy moving or storage in the bill.

[Jason Cummer]

From the sounds of the completion they are using two streams for the competition. One is from coal and one is from natural gas. I hope its only so they can have a vast source for the number of teams during the competition.

Other wise you might as well just find a way to combust/extract its energy, it down only to a useful chemical say C2H4 for  plastic production.

Cause yeah if not your wasting time and energy combusting to a lower energy state which you have to build back up to.

Both of the ways that I have been thinking about extract it out of water one as CaCO3 and one with CaO--> CaCO3.

That way you can do it anywhere you want. Just have to make sure you have a proper amount of CO2 being introduced into the system to keep the equilibrium equations happy.

Jason Cummer

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