Considering the pace with which the climate is changing and impacts of Global warming, scientists worldwide are searching for the techniques to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Without ‘negative emissions’, it won’t be possible to keep the global average temperatures from rising.
In a big breakthrough, Swiss startup Climeworks has launched the latest facility that can suck carbon dioxide out of the air and then combine it with hydrogen to make methane gas. Methane gas so produced can be used the same way any other natural gas is used.
Worldwide companies are working on developing more effective fuels and technologies, but Climeworks is creating ‘negative emissions’ plants for reducing the amount of carbon dioxide already released by human activity.
Last year, Climeworks had launched the world’s first ‘negative emissions’ plant. It worked by capturing annually 50 metric tons of CO2 from the air and then buries it in the ground along with water, where it reacts with rocks and turns into rock in less than two years.
Now the latest plant in Troia, Italy will annually capture 150 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Instead of burying it, it will convert Co2 in to methane which is a major component of natural gas and will be used to power vehicles.