This week we discover a startup making synthetic natural gas from the carbon in the air. We examine a new nano generator that turns CO2 into electricity and we investigate the growing size of human brains. Finally a gold based version of graphene has been produced. It has taken many years but Goldene is now a reality.
Natural Gas from Air
California based startup, Terraform Industries has developed a system, the Terraformer, that can make natural gas from electricity and air. The system takes in air, removes the carbon dioxide, uses an electrolyzer to split water into H and O and then uses those inputs to create natural gas.
The system is roughly the size of two shipping containers. There are three subsystems. A direct air capture system captures CO2 from the surrounding air. A solar array that powers an electrolyzer which converts splits the Hydrogen and Oxygen in water. Finally a chemical reactor ingests the CO2 and Hydrogen and produces a pipeline grade synthetic natural gas. The current machine is optimized for a 1 megawatt solar array.
Most of these processes are well understood however the company has innovated on the direct air capture system and adapted the process to work with a variable energy source (i.e. solar).
Terraform claims a production cost of US$2.50 per kilo for H2. Most green hydrogen is currently in the $5 to $11 per kilo cost range. The direct air capture system filters CO2 for less that US$250 per ton which is the lowest cost in the market at the moment. These costs will be lowered over time and the goal is for the synthetic natural gas to be price competitive with liquified natural gas.
The other advantage the system has is the gas is manufactured closer to where it is used, reducing transport costs and the reliance on imported energy for many countries. It is also using what is known as cyclical carbon. When the gas is burned, CO2 will be released into the atmosphere. The subsequent removal of CO2 to produce more gas closes the loop in the cycle. No further carbon is released into the atmosphere.
To be successful the system will have to be price competitive with other sources of natural gas. The company has produced gas with their proof of concept system and sold it to local LA utilities. Success will come with economies of scale and further cost reduction of the three main processes. Price competitiveness is the key.
Nanogenerator turning CO2 into Electricity
A team at the University of Queensland have developed a very small generator that absorbs carbon dioxide and makes electricity. The generator is made of two components, a polyamine gel that is used in industry to absorb CO2 and a skeleton, a few atoms thick, of boron nitrate that generates positive and negative ions.
The system makes the positive ions larger than the negative ions. The size difference means the ions move at different speeds. This generates a diffusion current which is then amplified into electricity to power any electronic device.
The two components of the system are embedded in a hydrogel made of 90% water. This gel is cut into 4 centimeter discs and rectangles and then sealed in a box full of CO2.
A slightly bigger device than the prototype could be developed to power mobile phones or laptops. Much larger industrial scale systems may be able to be developed to capture CO2 and harvest electricity. Currently only 1% of the total available energy in the CO2 is used to generate energy. Further research into increasing this percentage is underway. The big advantage of the system is that is carbon negative as it consumes CO2 during the production cycle.
Goldene
By now you will all have heard of Graphene, a one atom thick sheet of carbon atoms. Graphene is an amazing material with an ever increasing number of new applications. A team at Linkoping University in Sweden have now creates sheets of gold, one atom thick.
Researchers have tried to create one atom thick sheets of gold for many years however gold has a tendency to lump together making the process very difficult. The team solved this problem by adapting a hundred year old Japanese forging technique.
Murkiami’s reagent etches away carbon residue and changes the color of steel in knife making. It has been used by Japanese forgers for over 100 years. The team had to modify the process however to achieve the single atom thick sheet of gold. They found that diluting the concentration of the reagent and etching in the dark produced better results. The darkness stopped light from reacting with the cyanide produced in the reaction from dissolving the gold.
Finally the team stabilised the gold sheets by adding a surfactant. This is a long molecule that separates and stabilizes the sheets. The Goldene has two free bonds when two dimensional. This gives the sheets new properties that may be useful in a range of applications including, carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen production, water purification, communications and chemical production.
The team is now working with other noble metals to try and create single atom thick sheets of those metals. Hopefully one or more of these sheets have a similar range of uses as graphene.
Human Brains are getting Larger
A team from University of California Davis have studied MRIs of people born between the 1930’s and the 1970’s and discovered that the 1970’s babies had nearly 15% more brain surface area and 6.6% more volume than those born in the 1930’s. Additionally the parts of the brain associated with memory and learning also had increased in size.
The team is not sure if the larger brains are making us more intelligent (just read almost any social media app r watch reality TV and you will see that it is highly unlikely). However the larger brains may be giving us better brain health. There is a growing number of people being diagnosed with Alzheimer's as we age as a society however the percentage of people in each age cohort being diagnosed is falling.
The larger brain structures may reflect improved brain development and brain health. It may also give us a larger buffer and brain reserve for the late in life effects of age-related brain diseases.
Paying it Forward
If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.
If you have any questions or comments please comment below.
I would also appreciate it if you could forward this newsletter to anyone that you think might be interested.
Till next week.
Martian atmosphere is apparently 85% C02, but 2% as dense. Good for potato farms also though to consume CO2.
Time to ship the Terraforming containers to Mars.
(Or perhaps to solve the 3 body planet weather)