Artificial Trees Lauren Batlas, Maggie Sauber, and Cara Vecchio Preventative Climate Change Efforts The government has tried to mitigate global climate change by limiting the amount of greenhouse gases produced. For example, the government has set regulations for businesses to cap the amount of CO2 they can release. Changing Our View Towards Environmental Efforts The human response to the CO2 crisis will likely have to be reactive rather than preventative Wallace Broecker -Hertog Global Strategy Initiatives summer lecture series at Columbia University Using geoengineering to try to eliminate CO2 already in the atmosphere is an attempt to fix the damage we have already caused Artificial Trees Mimic how real trees remove CO2 from the air through its leaves Artificial trees are several thousand times more effective at removing CO2 Non-specific in source when targeting CO2 Regulations focus on power plants Artificial trees work to remove any CO2 in the air People Involved Wallace S. Broecker and Robert Kunzig originally proposed the idea of artificial trees. Lauren notecards Director of Lenfest Center for Sustainable energy at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Broecker is a geophysicist and climate change scientist at Columbia University Kunzig is a scientific journalist. Klaus S. Lackner then pioneered a majority of the work following the project proposal. engineering.asu.edu us.macmillan.com Location Will be beneficial and effective at any location because CO2 is well-mixed in with the air Highways were the prime suggested location phys.org Cost to Build Initial Cost: $20,000 Price will fall eventually Just below how much a average family car costs in the US 70 million cars are produced each year 100 million trees needed to offset the last 200 years Step One: Capture of CO2 A passive, sorbent-based air collector with the filter surfaces covered with or made from a CO2 selective sorbent. The leaves of the structure are coated with said sorbent. Air that comes in contact with sorbent surfaces will relinquish some or all of its CO2. So what kind of sorbent? Initially sodium hydroxide was used as the sorbent, but it took too much energy. Because most aqueous hydroxides would face the same limitations, they shifted focus from fluid sorbents to a solid resin. After much research and experimentation, a strong-base ion- exchange resin was decided on. Step Two: Removal of captured CO2 from filter Simply exposing this resin to water releases CO2 from the material This creates a cycle where CO2 is loaded onto dry resin, driven off the resin by moisture, then repeated once the resin dries. This resin can be regenerated many times. The extracted CO2 then can be dried and compressed to pipeline pressures. Step Three: Storage of Removed Carbon Dioxide This essentially creates a CO2 pump A large market is found in enhanced oil recovery, where CO2 facilitates the production of oil. CO2 can react with water to produce a combination known as syngas.. What to do with CO2? Lackner estimated that one artificial tree can take in 700kg of CO2 in 24hrs but 700kg only equals the breath of 13 people for one day and night. Concerns Large amount needed A lot of artificial trees would be needed to make a significant impact More machines means more resources: Electricity Water Land space Money How Much Money? Funding = biggest hurdle $20,000 per machine Whos going to pay? Government Industries Global CO2 Levels Lackner estimates 10 million such artificial trees would be required to drop atmospheric concentrations by 0.5 ppm per year Public Gratification Even if millions of artificial trees were deployed, it would take decades at least to restore pre- industrial atmospheric concentrations of CO2. Bibliography Biello, D. 16 th of May "400 PPM: Can Artificial Trees Help Pull CO2 from the Air?http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/prospects-for-direct-air- capture-of-carbon-dioxide/ Scientific American. Accessed 3 rd of October 2015http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/prospects-for-direct-air- capture-of-carbon-dioxide/ Fox, T Geo-engineering Giving us the Time to Act?. Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1-24.Geo-engineering Giving us the Time to Act?. Kunzig, R. The Big Idea.idea/13/carbon-capture. National Geographic. Accessed 3rd of October 2015http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big- idea/13/carbon-capture Lackner, K.S Capture of carbon dioxide from ambient air (Links to an external site.). The Eurupeon Physical Journal Special Topics 176 : 93106. doi: /epjst/e Capture of carbon dioxide from ambient air (Links to an external site.) Metz, B., O. Davidson, H. de Coninck, M. Loos, L. Meyer Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage. IPCC Schiffman, R. 13 th of February, Artificial Trees as a Carbon Capture Alternative to Geoengineering.trees-as-a-carbon-capture-alternative-to-geoengineering/ Yale Climate Connections. Accessed 4 th of October 2015http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2013/02/artificial- trees-as-a-carbon-capture-alternative-to-geoengineering/