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Company Wants to Turn Carbon Pollution into Baking Soda

by Terrence O'Brien on April 25, 2010 at 02:30 PM

Company Wants to Turn Pollution into Baking SodaWhen we talk about carbon capture we're usually talking about the act of isolating the CO2 emissions of a power plant and injecting them deep underground for long term storage. So far, the technique has not proven cost effective, and there are concerns about what would happen in the highly unlikely event that the integrity of one of these carbon dioxide reservoirs were compromised. A company called Skyonic is taking a novel approach to the problem that does away with the storage part of the equation and even manages to make a little extra money on the side.

The company's SkyMine project, in San Antonio, Texas, uses a three-step process that pumps the fumes from burning coal into water that is heated and fed through a filter that isolates hydrogen, chlorine and sodium hydroxide. That sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda, is then combined with the carbon dioxide also produced by the burning coal. When this new mixture is filtered, it produces sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.

The project is still in the early testing phase, but by processing the pollutants to produce industrial chemicals that it can then sell, Skyonic believes it can make carbon capture a commercially viable way of combating global warming. [From: CNET]

Tags: baking soda, BakingSoda, carbon capture, CarbonCapture, energy, global warming, GlobalWarming, greentech, science, skyonic, top

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