this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2024
435 points (94.1% liked)
science
14791 readers
39 users here now
A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.
rule #1: be kind
<--- rules currently under construction, see current pinned post.
2024-11-11
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
How does the cost per co2 captured compare to planting more trees? Or is this just another VC scam?
If CO2 is a byproduct of another process, then I'd make a guess it is fairly cheap. The flaw here is that CO2 and H2 are both products of steam reforming using methane... Which is to say, the cheaper version might just come from using natural gas. Hydrogen has to be sourced from some energy consuming process, and that too is often from the methane steam reformation. So it's certainly possible, but yet again is ready to become yet another "green" product made from fossil fuel. Doesn't have to be, but I can be.
Edit: to correct a discrepancy, the article mentioned hydrogen, but if the hydrgon comes from water used in the process then some of the issues of providing H2 is less big. But either way I expect this to be energy costly. Nevertheless, a lab made product is still something that doesn't need large areas of land to produce.