Synthetic Trees could purify air from carbon dioxide

After watching a global warming documentary last night I learned of something that I have never heard before. The creation of synthetic trees that could capture carbon dioxide and release them in a calcium carbonate form (the stuff sea shells are made out of) or sodium carbonate liquid, and store the carbon permanently. Geo-physicist Professor Klaus Lackner thinks he has found a solution that could solve our problem of too much carbon dioxide output. Regardless of whether or not you believe global warming is affected by carbon dioxide, within 100 years from now, carbon dioxide will reach levels never seen before.

Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does affect the environment in negative ways. It also affects animals, plants, and humans. According to Professor Lackner, it would take about 250,000 of these synthetic trees to soak up the amount of carbon dioxide we emit annually. It works by having chemical veins that are compacted very closely with a solution of sodium hydroxide. The solution then absorbs carbon dioxide and then forms a sodium carbonate liquid which can then be piped away for final storage. This in effect mimics mother nature, except that plants store carbon in their tissues.

Documentary Reference: "Global Warming: The Signs and the Science"
Source:BBC

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