Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

OKIsItJustMe

(19,937 posts)
Fri Apr 19, 2013, 05:06 PM Apr 2013

Lawrence Livermore scientists discover new materials to capture methane

(Please note, news release from US Federal Government Research Lab — Copyright concerns are nil.)

https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2013/Apr/NR-13-04-03.html

[font face=Serif]For immediate release: 04/16/2013 | NR-13-04-03

[font size=5]Lawrence Livermore scientists discover new materials to capture methane[/font]

Anne M Stark, LLNL, (925) 422-9799, stark8@llnl.gov

[font size=3]Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and UC Berkeley and have discovered new materials to capture methane, the second highest concentration greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere.

Methane is a substantial driver of global climate change, contributing 30 percent of current net climate warming. Concern over methane is mounting, due to leaks associated with rapidly expanding unconventional oil and gas extraction, and the potential for large-scale release of methane from the Arctic as ice cover continues to melt and decayed material releases methane to the atmosphere. At the same time, methane is a growing source of energy, and aggressive methane mitigation is key to avoiding dangerous levels of global warming.

The research team, made up of Amitesh Maiti, Roger Aines and Josh Stolaroff of LLNL and Professor Berend Smit, researchers Jihan Kim and Li-Chiang Lin at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, performed systematic computer simulation studies on the effectiveness of methane capture using two different materials - liquid solvents and nanoporous zeolites (porous materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents).

While the liquid solvents were not effective for methane capture, a handful of zeolites had sufficient methane sorption to be technologically promising. The research appears in the April 16 edition of the journal, Nature Communications.

Methane is far more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Researchers have found that the release of as little as 1 percent of methane from the Arctic alone could have a warming effect approaching that being produced by all of the CO2 that has been pumped into the atmosphere by human activity since the start of the Industrial Revolution.



Through an extensive study, the team found that none of the common solvents (including ionic liquids) appears to possess enough affinity toward methane to be of practical use. However, a systematic screening of around 100,000 zeolite structures uncovered a few nanoporous candidates that appear technologically promising.

…[/font][/font]
6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Lawrence Livermore scientists discover new materials to capture methane (Original Post) OKIsItJustMe Apr 2013 OP
Quick! Zeolite diapers for all the cows! Scuba Apr 2013 #1
You mean face masks OKIsItJustMe Apr 2013 #2
In any case, the natural gas and petroleum industry are a larger problem OKIsItJustMe Apr 2013 #3
This could help save our planet. Thanks. JDPriestly Apr 2013 #4
Oregano the wonder herb. No kidding. Eat some today! freshwest Apr 2013 #5
"appear ... promising" ... i.e. not tested IRL yet. nt eppur_se_muova Apr 2013 #6
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»Lawrence Livermore scient...