Introduction: Artificial Trees
This Instructable may save our Future if we try to implement it in a right way.As we all know, whenever there is mention of environmental pollutant the first which come to everyone's head is Carbon Dioxide ! This is all about use of some chemical reactions and use of the chemical properties of the product to improve our environment by controlling pollutants. A plastic resin that can capture carbon dioxide directly from the air.These are the Artificial Resins which absorbs (or binds) Carbon Dioxide in the form of Salt form (Carbonate). These Resins are built in a Mechanism( artificial trees ) which can be implemented as per our convenience. Hence we can control our dying nature. Following will Explain the Construction and working of Artificial trees.
Step 1: Heart of Artificial Trees : NOTT 202
UK researchers have developed a porous material that can preferentially soak up CO2 from the atmosphere.
NOTT-202 is a "metal-organic framework" that works like a sponge, absorbing a number of gases at high pressures. But as the pressure is reduced, CO2 is retained as other gases are released. The development, reported in Nature Materials , holds promise for carbon capture and storage, or even for removing CO2 from the exhaust gases of power plants and factories. Metal-organic frameworks have been considered promising structures to trap gases for a number of years. They are so named because they comprise atoms of a metallic element at their core, surrounded by scaffolds of longer, carbon-containing chains. These complex molecules can be made to join together in frameworks that leave gaps suitable for capturing gases. However, until now, such frameworks have been good primarily at gathering any gas passing through them; those that were selective for CO2 have proven to have a low capacity for storing the gas.
Using X-ray diffraction and detailed computer models, the researchers found that NOTT-202 is made up of two different frameworks that slot together incompletely, leaving "nanopore" gaps particularly suited to gathering up CO2.
This two-part structure, the researchers claim, is an entirely new class of porous material. As such, research into just how similarly paired frameworks can be created may help researchers find a range of materials suited to soaking up specific gases.
Step 2: Construction & Working
Constructing a forest of 'artificial trees' is one of the most promising technologies to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, according to a report published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the UK. The report also calls for a national UK programme for research and development into "geoengineering" projects that could provide a better understanding.
Constructing fly-swat-shaped "artificial trees" is the most promising approach to reducing CO2. Such a tree would work by letting air pass through into the structure and then catching the CO2 via a "sorbant" material, such as sodium hydroxide. The CO2 is then removed and buried underground in a similar manner to conventional carbon capture and storage.Hence the Clean air is released from the artificial tree.
Human civilization shows little inclination to reduce CO2 the cheapest industrial way: cut greenhouse gas pollution from the biggest, most concentrated sources, such as coal-fired power plants or oil refineries. Placing carbon capture at these industrial facilities is significantly cheaper than general air capture and reduces emissions from the single largest sources of CO2. As Princeton University mechanical engineer Robert Socolow argues: it makes little sense to capture CO2 from the air until these sources of pollution have been eliminated.
Step 3: Limitations for Actual Implementation
The ultimate problem may be that the technology cannot work overnight. Even if we able to deploy millions of artificial trees employing this resin, it would take decades at least to restore pre-industrial atmospheric concentrations of CO2. And then the question becomes: What is the appropriate concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, and who decides? In the end it might be easier to just stop pumping CO2 into the air in the first place and let photosynthetic plants handle the rest.But as we all know an old idea can always be reconstructed with better approach and better modification , so we can hope for good !
P.S. : This application was included in view of the Apocalypse Preparedness Contest please vote and add to your favorite if you liked it :)