![]() The warmer the earth gets, the greater the fallout in terms of rising sea levels, extreme storm events, and ecological disruption, all of which have repercussions on global health, security, and stability. In its 2021 working group report, the IPCC estimates the average yearly temperature over the next 20 years is expected to rise by at least 1.5 degrees Celsius. Just one gigaton (equal to 1 billion tons) is the equivalent of the mass of all land mammals on earth.Įmissions from greenhouse gasses have increased global temperatures by approximately 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In 2021, global emissions of CO 2 rose by 6 percent from the previous year-to 36.3 gigatons, according to the International Energy Agency. The most abundant of the greenhouse gasses contributing to global warming is carbon dioxide. This subject was the dissertation topic for environmental engineering student Hao Chen ’23 PhD, who successfully defended his PhD in March and will receive his doctorate in May. That quest led the way to the field of direct air capture, or DAC, and the creation of DeCarbonHIX. ![]() SenGupta and his students were on the lookout for a reliable supply of CO 2 even in remote places. His invention of DeCarbonHIX was the outcome of an ongoing CO 2-driven wastewater desalination project funded by the Bureau of Reclamation under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Two of his patents have been recognized as “Patents for Humanity” by the US patent and Trademark Office. He invented the first reusable, arsenic-selective hybrid anion exchanger nanomaterial (HAIX-Nano), and as a result, more than two million people around the world now drink arsenic-safe water. His research on water science and technology has included drinking water treatment methodologies, desalination, municipal wastewater reuse, and resource recovery. The work is yet another extension of SenGupta’s personal and professional commitment to developing technologies that benefit humanity, and in particular, marginalized communities around the world. Anyone who can operate a cell phone should be able to operate this process. “And I believe we have a responsibility to build direct air capture technology in a way that it can be implemented by people and countries around the world. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. “The climate crisis is an international problem,” says SenGupta, who is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and civil and environmental engineering in Lehigh’s P.C. SenGupta himself has been fielding interest in the technology from companies based in Brazil, Ireland, and the Middle East. The research, which demonstrated a 300 percent increase in the amount of carbon captured compared with existing direct air capture methods, has garnered international attention from media outlets like the BBC, CNN, Fast Company, and The Daily Beast, and professional organizations like the American Chemical Society. This new hybrid material, or filter, is called DeCarbonHIX (i.e., decarbonization through hybrid ion exchange material), and is described in a paper recently published in the journal Science Advances. ![]() The approach uses an innovative copper-containing polymeric filter and essentially converts CO 2 into sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda) that can be released harmlessly into the ocean. Lehigh Engineering researcher Arup SenGupta has developed a novel way to capture carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the “infinite sink” of the ocean.
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