Researchers at Rice University in Texas have improved upon a material developed by their lab that has the potential to remove carbon from natural gas at wellheads. The material, carbon capturing asphalt, has been under development at the lab over the last couple years. “The new, improved asphalt sorbent is made in two steps from a less expensive form of asphalt, which makes it more practical for industry,” a Rice University release explains.
Previous iterations of the material had been made of a more expensive form of asphalt that was not readily available, according to the release. “This shows we can take the least expensive form of asphalt and make it into this very high surface area material to capture carbon dioxide,” Rice chemist James Tour said in the release.
Field tests have shown that the asphalt can be used at wellheads to adsorb 114 percent of its weight in carbon dioxide. “The Rice lab’s initial asphalt-based porous carbon collected carbon dioxide from gas streams under pressure at the wellhead and released it when the pressure was released. The carbon dioxide could then be repurposed or pumped back underground while the porous carbon could be reused immediately,” the release says.
