Capture the Carbon!
Finding ways to capture the carbon before it leaves the power plants will reduce the overall amount of carbon in the air.
Let’s sweeten the deal! Taking toxic materials out of factory exhaust gas is often called sweetening the gas. Gas sweetening can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 90%!
Carbon dioxide can be removed from exhaust gas in many ways. Here are a few examples:
Get it wet. When the toxic gas is sent through a water-based solution with certain chemicals, the CO2 will hold on to those chemicals rather than go out through the smokestack.
Burn the fuel in oxygen. If fossil fuel is burned in oxygen instead of air, the result is carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor only. CO2 without the nitrogen from air can easily be stored in this form rather than sent through the smokestack.
Turn it into limestone. When carbon dioxide (CO2) reacts with calcium oxide (CaO) in creates calcium carbonate (CaCO3) also known as limestone.