Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

Register Log in
  • Congratulations TugboatEng on being selected by the Eng-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Update on "Air Carbon Plastic"

Status
Not open for further replies.
ornerynorsk

ornerynorsk

Industrial
Joined
Feb 5, 2002
Messages
3,198
Location
US

Not much real information but it appears that they have materials in production, and customers. Will be interesting to see how this pans out in the coming years.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
 
An utter scam.
 
So is the process actually not viable economically or are they simply manufacturing a pathway to funding sources, shall we say?

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
 
"Carbon emissions are captured ... [and] ... A bundle of enzymes strips out the carbon and oxygen and rearranges them into a substance they call air carbon."

Information so vague and imprecise that it sounds like lies. 'Air carbon'!

'Carbon emissions' almost certainly means CO2 and plants have been doing this quite cheaply for quite a long time (see photosynthesis with photosystems I and II—a lot of steps and more subtle and precise arrangements of metal atoms than a 'bundle of enzymes' and of course needs energy from light). On the other hand improvements in artificial photosynthesis and have been anticipated for a while. I'd like to know more of course. If it sort-of works my guess is that it takes more energy than is reasonable.
 
They have a number of patent applications, one of which is It reads fairly plausibly. The process involves using microorganisms to ingest CO2 and the like, and they generate polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) as a waste product

TTFN
faq731-376
7ofakss

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529
 
There is not a single energy balance done in the entire patent. The most basic analysis will tell you that this process can be no more efficient than a forest or field of corn for carbon sequestration. Perpetual motion machines are invented by people who focus so much on details that they lose sight of the basics. I do not doubt for an instant that plastics can be made from CO2 or carbon. Is it an economical way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? Absolutely not.
 
I find it odd that their website has no pull-down for products, with datasheets for actual useable air carbon polymers. They say that their material will replace PP, PE, ABS, etc. and "significantly out-compete on price." But no actual data.

Their website says they are concentrating on methane, which is supposed to be way more green-housy than CO2. They mention sources for methane as land fills, farms, water treatment plants and energy facilities. Looks like they are dependent on sources of relatively high concentration fairly reactive gas. too bad these sources dont produce ethylene instead.

Rick Fischer
Principal Engineer
Argonne National Laboratory
 
ICI started making PHB over 20 years ago my dad had a key fob made of it. That is real and there are books on PHAs. Whether such polymers will ever make sense is another question.

Chris DeArmitt PhD
President - Phantom Plastics LLC

Consulting, ideas and training on plastic materials
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

asalisbury
  • Locked
  • Question Question
Lignin Carbon Fiber
Replies
1
Views
887
Compositepro
Compositepro
T1G
  • Locked
  • Question Question
PLASTIC CAP CRAKING ON GLASS BOTTLES AFTER 7 TO 10 DAYS
Replies
1
Views
531
Pud
Pud
Nay Zaw
  • Locked
  • Question Question
Hi everyone, I'm working on prod
Replies
0
Views
766
Nay Zaw
Nay Zaw
bcavender
  • Locked
  • Question Question
Source of Practical Information on Heat Bending PVC Extrusions
Replies
1
Views
1K
3DDave
3DDave
Lee.Conti
  • Locked
  • Question Question
Yield Strength for Plastic
Replies
5
Views
2K
Demon3
Demon3

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top