Processing aircraft components from carbon in the air

Airborne carbon can be turned into micro-nanofibers, a raw material used to make durable compounds in aircraft components, bodybuilding equipment and sports cars.

Carbon cars in the air into micro-nanofibers as aircraft components

A Stuart Licht research group at George Washington University, Washington DC, USA, designed the process of collecting carbon from the air and turning it into a product that cost significantly more than production costs. The results of the study were published at a conference of the American Chemical Society, which took place earlier this week in Boston, Massachusetts.

Carbon nanofibers are used in manufacturing aircraft, bodybuilding equipment and cars.(Photo: Stuart Licht.)

According to the team's calculations, carbon nanotubes are priced at $ 25,000 / ton, but with this process, production costs are only about $ 1,000.

This process takes place in an electrolyte , carbon mixed with air will dissolve and lead into lithium carbonate containers, a common industrial chemical. Then, carbon nanofibers formed in the form of fragments like steel fibers, developed from tiny pieces of nickel, cobalt or copper.

Recently, the team has increased the electric current to promote carbon nanofibres to grow from 1 to 100 A. Current can be obtained from conventional sources but Licht also successfully exploited solar energy.

If produced on a large scale, this process also contributed significantly to the fight against climate change . " Calculated with an area of ​​less than 10% of the Sahara desert, our process can filter CO2 and bring the amount of carbon in the air to the pre-industrial level within 10 years ," Licht said. know.