Thermal power plants generate the largest chunk of power that is consumed across the globe. And many of these thermal power plants function on the power supplied by coal. Fossil fuel-powered power plants do produce energy at cheap costs, but they also spew out carbon dioxide into the atmosphere thanks to all that burning coal. There are already regulations in place, across the planet, on the standards of such emissions and how they need to be managed.
Carbon Dioxide adsorbents are widely used to filter out carbon content before releasing these emissions into the atmosphere. Hitachi has come up with a new adsorbent material, which could change the standards we have set for ourselves in future. The new adsorbent material designed by the company uses solid cerium oxide in place of the zeolitic solid adsorbents that are available in the market today and are widely used. This fresh adsorbent can be 13 times more efficient that the ones in operation today and has the capability to adsorb carbon dioxide content in an equally exponential fashion.
Traditional materials ability to adsorb carbon dioxide is reduced in the presence of moisture, but with the advent of cerium oxide adsorbents from Hitachi, there will be no such problem. The new adsorbent is capable of functioning perfectly well even with moisture around and with a breakthrough technique that allows for pillar-shaped fine pores on adsorbent, there are regular hollow surfaces which make it a lot more effective.
Hitachi has further enhanced the capabilities of the cerium oxide surface by adding adsorbent catalysts that increase its efficiency and with more research hope to create a material that is 20 percent more energy efficient than the one it has to offer right now. Hitachi believes that they can roll out this technology on a commercial scale by around 2025, but we would dearly love to see it a lot sooner.
Via: Nikkeibp
