Converting one greenhouse gas to another as a way to reduce warming and make a profit

Researchers from Stanford University have come up with a method that may reduce climate warming and also create a significant profit.

The method converts the extremely potent greenhouse gas methane into another greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2), which is much less potent.

<img src="https://vortex.accuweather.com/adc2004/pub/includes/columns/climatewx/2019/590x422_05291439_ghg-concentrations-download2-2016.png"/>

About 60 percent of methane is generated by humans. As of 2018, methane concentrations were two and a half times greater than pre-industrial levels. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is much greater compared to methane; however, methane is 84 times more potent in terms of warming the climate system over the first 20 years after its release, according to the <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-05-outline-vision-profitable-climate-solution.html" target=n>Phys.org article.</a>

<strong>Key excerpt from the article.....</strong>

<em>The basic idea is that some sources of methane emissions—from rice cultivation or cattle, for example, may be very difficult or expensive to eliminate. "An alternative is to offset these emissions via methane removal, so there is no net effect on warming the atmosphere," said study coauthor Chris Field, the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.</em>

The study notes that zeolite, a crystalline material that is mostly made up of aluminum, silicon and oxygen, could basically act as a sponge to soak up methane. The actual process may end up being a giant contraption (perhaps the size of a football field) with electric fans forcing air through tumbling chambers or reactors full of powdered or pelletized zeolites and other catalysts. Once the methane is trapped it can be heated to form CO2 and released.

Most scientific scenarios for removing CO2 typically assume hundreds of billions of tons removed over decades. However, this would not restore the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels. In contrast, methane concentrations could be restored to pre-industrial levels by removing about 3.2 billion tons of the gas from the atmosphere and converting it into an amount of CO2 equivalent to a few months of global industrial emissions, according to the researchers. If successful, the approach would eliminate approximately one-sixth of all causes of global warming to date, according to the report.

<strong>Potential profit?</strong>

Most relevant assessment models project that market prices for carbon offsets may rise to $500 or more per ton this century. If this is correct, there could be $12,000 in revenue for each ton of methane removed from the atmosphere by these contraptions.

<u>Short video about this research, via Youtube. Courtesy Stanford University. </u>

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