A breather for atmosphere

There maybe a breath of fresh air for environmentalists. Literally. A new technology can capture carbon dioxide from a stream of air, even if it’s very concentrated. The researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US said that while most methods of removing carbon dioxide from a stream of gas required higher concentrations -- such as those found in the fuel emissions from fossil fuel-based power plants -- the new method could suck out the gas even when it was present in very low concentrations. They added that the method required significant energy, and could even suck out the greenhouse gas at the roughly 400 parts per million currently found in the atmosphere. The researchers described the device as a large, specialized battery with a stack of electrodes that absorbs carbon dioxide from the air passing over its surface as it was being charged up, and then released the gas as it was being discharged. The researchers said that the device alternated between charging and discharging cycles. During the charging cycle, they said that fresh air was fed into the system, and concentrated carbon dioxide was blown out during the discharging. Did you know 93 per cent of children worldwide live in areas where air pollution exceeds WHO guidelines, with 600,000 children under 15 dying from respiratory tract infections in 2016.