[Mark Herrema] and Kenton Kimmel, a high school classmate, founded the Irvine, California-based company Newlight Technologies in 2003. After years of research, the team unveiled a way to produce plastic from carbon emissions that is actually more affordably priced than oil-based plastics.
The "secret sauce" is a biocatalyst that combines air and methane, and reassembles all of the carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules into a thermoplastic the makers call AirCarbon.
— Smithsonian
Newlight's work appears really interesting, addressing two separate but related issues: "first, oil dependency, by replacing oil with captured carbon emissions, and second, climate change, by creating a market-driven carbon capture platform." Basically, the technology comprises using a biocatalyst to combine oxygen with carbon and hydrogen molecules extracted from methane, producing a "long-chain thermoplastic polymer molecule, called AirCarbon." Like other "carbon-negative" technologies, this project involves actually removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, rather than merely attempting to reduce emission levels.
Smithsonian Magazine interviews the team behind AirCarbon. Some good snippets:
5 Comments
Holy shit. The good this could do is astounding.
wow
god I hate ayn rand.
Now we can cut down and burn all the trees to make plastic.
It's a win win miles!
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