A researcher at the University of Calgary says she has developed a method of turning greenhouse gases into valuable carbon nanofibres. Mina Zarabian came up with the concept while completing her doctorate in chemical and petroleum engineering at the university’s Schulich School of Engineering. Zarabian and her professor, Pedro Pereira Almao, worked together to come up with the technique. The nanofibres have multiple industrial uses that included replacing metal in cars and airplanes, wind turbines, battery manufacturing and construction. "This is a process that turns natural gas and CO2, carbon dioxide, both known as greenhouse gases, into solid carbon nanofibres which can be sold in a brick or powder for a lot of industries that utilize them," Zarabian said during a tour of her lab. "It can be used everywhere that you can imagine … transportation vehicles to make them lighter and more durable so they can be more fuel efficient." The transformation moved from its theoretical beginnings in the chemistry lab to a working model at the university. Lines from tanks of carbon dioxide and methane feed into a small chamber the size of a balloon. Once it’s exposed to extreme heat, black powdery residue appears in a […]
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