Artificial trees absorb 1,000 times more CO2 than green trees

This artificial tree uses a special material that can absorb CO2 1,000 times more than natural trees, helping to reduce the harmful effects of emissions and global warming.

Artificial trees can help reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Photo: Inhabitat.

According to Bloomberg, humans have produced half a billion tons of CO2 since the industrial revolution, leading to climate change and global warming. Removing CO2 from the atmosphere is the only way to avoid climate catastrophe by the end of this century.

Researchers atCenter for Carbon Emissions Research (CNCE) at the University of Arizona, USA,invented an artificial tree that can absorb 1,000 times more CO2 than natural trees.

This artificial tree uses a special opaque white absorbent material, which has the ability tobinds strongly to CO2 when indry state. To increase the contact area with CO2, the material is arranged in shapes resembling paper rolls, small pine trees, or carpet fibers.

“They act like leaves on a tree,” said Professor Klaus Lackner, who led the research at CNCE. “When air flows over the surface of these leaves, CO2 binds to them and can be removed when we increase the humidity.”

As for how to use the captured CO2, Lackner said there are many different solutions. It could be used to make plastics, carbonated drinks, or returned to Earth in another form.

“We can use CO2 as a feedstock for factories,” Lackner said. CO2 is an important ingredient in photosynthesis, so it can be used to grow algae to produce clean biofuels.

Lackner said that building artificial forests using this technology would take at least 20 years, but could be done sooner if the idea continues to gain support. In October 2015, a Canadian company opened a plant in Squamish, USA, that captures CO2 from the air and converts it into solid form. The plant has already captured a total of 10 tons of CO2.

According to VNE