Visitors to the Cheltenham Science Festival last week learnt about the latest sustainable chemistry research at an exhibit designed by scientists and engineers from the University of Bath.
Researchers from the University’s Doctoral Training Centre in Sustainable Chemical Technologies demonstrated their research into carbon capture cages, chemical structures that can trap and store the harmful greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
The cage acts like a chemical sieve, with holes of different sizes which allow small molecules to pass through but can soak up carbon dioxide molecules and capture them to stop them being released into the environment.
The Bath researchers are also developing ways of using the trapped carbon dioxide to make valuable chemicals and fuels.
They demonstrated the concept using a frame with two nets of different mesh sizes. When a mixture of molecule models are poured through, the smaller molecules can pass through both nets but the larger carbon dioxide molecules get trapped between the two nets.
James Tyson, a PhD student from the Doctoral Training Centre (DTC), explained: “The carbon capture cage material that we’re developing has a huge surface area – just a gram of the stuff has the same surface area as 15 tennis courts!
“In the future you could use this material to line chimneys of power stations to remove and store carbon dioxide from their emissions, reducing the level of greenhouse gases in the environment and decreasing the effects of climate change.”
Visitors to the festival stand also got a chance to make a bouncy ball from PVA glue, cornflour and borax solution, to show how plastics can be made from renewable sources such as plants.
The researchers at the stand enjoyed explaining their research to the public. Emily Holt, the chief designer of the carbon capture cage said: “Events like the Cheltenham Science Festival give us a rare opportunity to engage and communicate with the public to hopefully inspire the next generation of scientists.”
- Team of DTC students who presented at the Festival
Funded by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council, the University’s DTC in Sustainable Chemical Technologies runs a four year PhD programme where students mix taught courses with multi-disciplinary research projects in the latest cutting edge fields of sustainable chemistry and chemical engineering.
The students work closely with industrial partners and international collaborators on projects that are relevant in the commercial sector. For more information about the DTC please contact csct@bath.ac.uk or phone 01225 385820.