#797: CCEMC Grand Challenge: RTI Internationsl
Who would ever have thought there could be so many ways to convert waste carbon dioxide from industrial emissions into something useful?
Thanks to the Grand Challenge funding from Alberta’s Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation, that number is growing by leaps and bounds.
Take the process being developed by RTI International. That’s the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina.
Research chemist Dr. Paul Mobley explains.
DR PAUL MOBLEY: So the conventional process for creating ethylene oxide takes ethylene and combines it with an oxygen that’s separated from air. And we’re able to do it through our catalyst using an oxygen separated from the carbon dioxide.
Once commercialized, this conversion process could significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions
DR PAUL MOBLEY: So we completed a lifecycle And we found that for every tonne of ethylene oxide you produce, you reduce CO2 emissions by 4.7 tonnes. So a 250 kilotonne ethylene oxide production plant would reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1.1 megatonnes per year.
Dr. Paul Mobley says ehtylene oxide is a major building block for products like antifreeze and various plastics.
Thanks today to the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation.
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY
I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
Guest
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Sponsor
Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation
Program Date: 2016-07-26