MOSCOW, October 23 —. A method for simultaneous utilization of carbon dioxide and production of metal oxide powders was created by scientists from Tyumen State University and TPU. According to them, the process is highly energy efficient, and the resulting powders can be used to produce high-quality ceramics for a wide range of applications. The results were published in the journal Ceramics International.
Uncontrolled emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-active gases, leading to the greenhouse effect, are one of the main causes of modern environmental problems, scientists reported.
Among the common ways to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, there are two key approaches: storage technologies, which involve preserving it in the earth's rock, and application technologies, which use gas in various production processes.
Scientists from Tyumen State University (TSU) and Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) have created a method for producing nano- and ultrafine metal oxide powders using carbon dioxide as the initial gaseous reagent.
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“We have created a method for the synthesis of metal oxides in the pulsed plasma of an arc discharge, where CO2 serves as the working medium, while its decomposition occurs not only due to the direct action of the plasma, but also due to additional exothermic reactions of metal oxidation,” said the head of the laboratory of resource-efficient technologies thermal processing of biomass at the X-BIO Institute Ivan Shanenkov.
As the authors explained, ceramic products with high physical and mechanical properties, at the level of the best analogues, can be made from aluminum oxide powders obtained using the new technology. Ceramics made from titanium oxide powders can be used as photocatalysts for the production of hydrogen, and from iron oxides — as a highly magnetic and radio-absorbing material.
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A unique feature of the new approach is that the amount of energy expended to implement the process makes it possible to process three times more carbon dioxide than the standard enthalpy of CO2 decomposition assumes. In other words, the energy efficiency of carbon dioxide conversion is about 300%, the creators explained. According to them, this figure for the best analogues is no more than 80%.
«After the formation of an electric arc in a unique accelerator created by colleagues from TPU, plasma is formed, which is then accelerated, involving in metal particles move from the surface of the electrodes. Getting into the working chamber with carbon dioxide and reacting with it, the plasma leads to its decomposition and oxidation of metal particles,» Shanenkov said.
The plasma emission speed is several kilometers per second, and such high temperatures and pressures are formed in the plasma itself that this leads to the synthesis of new compounds in the form of nano- and ultradisperse particles, the scientist explained.
» «Similar studies on the use of plasma for CO2 utilization are mainly aimed at obtaining liquid and gaseous products. Our method is advantageous in that it allows us to obtain solid substances in the form of powders, which no one has done before,» Shanenkov noted.
The production of volumetric ceramic products took place using a spark plasma sintering installation, scientists reported.
Funding was carried out within the framework of the program of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation for the creation of youth laboratories, project FEWZ-2024-0013.