A sheet made of recycled cotton helps to convert carbon dioxide into bicarbonate, which has many uses.

Behind this idea are representatives from North Carolina State University who described their achievements ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. They started their project by dipping a two-layer cotton sheet in a liquid solution. The fluid contains the polyaminosaccharide chitosan, which produces chitin, which is found in the carapace of some other animals.

Also read: The world’s most efficient carbon dioxide capture system. A simple trick was enough

In this case, the chitosan acts as a glue, allowing the natural enzyme carbonic anhydrase to be added in the form of a coating. This enzyme accelerates the reaction of bicarbonate with carbon dioxide and water. The second, for example, is the main ingredient in baking soda.

Carbon dioxide is converted into liquid bicarbonate

The filter thus formed was then twisted into a spiral shape inserted into a tube. The scientists pumped an aqueous mixture of aqueous and aqueous solution containing CO2 and nitrogen. When carbon dioxide reacted with water and carbonic anhydrase, most of this greenhouse gas was converted into liquid bicarbonate. Union swam out and gathered there.

Also read: With this wood based foam you can forget about air conditioning. It is a passive cooling material

The efficiency of this method has been shown to be at least satisfactory. When pumping 4 liters of air per minute, 52.3% of its carbon dioxide is collected through a single filter. The combination of the two such filters, in contrast, resulted in an increase of up to 81.7% in efficiency. Importantly, even after being washed and dried five times, the material retained a significant portion of its properties. On the other hand, 4 liters per minute is a small amount, especially compared to the results achieved by industrial chimneys, which can emit 10 million liters of exhaust gas per minute.