New process strips CO₂ from the air

Alain Goeppert, G K Surya Prakash, chemistry Nobel Laureate George A Olah and colleagues say their process achieves one of the highest carbon dioxide removal rates ever reported for real-world conditions where the air contains moisture. Existing methods tend to be energy intensive and inefficient. But, in research published by the American Chemical Society, the group's used solid materials based on polyethylenimine, a readily available and inexpensive polymeric material. After capturing the carbon dioxide, says the team, the materials give it up easily, so that the CO2 can be used in making other substances, or permanently isolated from the environment.