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Right.. 1MT of methane leads to 0.75MT of carbon nanotubes valued at $225,000 -- an implicit price of $300,000/MT for CNTs.. EPA estimates that energy producti
by mikeyouse 10y ago
Right.. 1MT of methane leads to 0.75MT of carbon nanotubes valued at $225,000 -- an implicit price of $300,000/MT for CNTs.. EPA estimates that energy production releases about 8.1 million metric tons of methane annually, so if we convert 1% of the methane to CNTs, we'd have about 61,000 metric tons of carbon nanotubes to dispose of. What happens to the price if you dump 60,000 tons of a previously rare product on the market? What happens if you up the requirement to 10% and you have 600,000MT of nanotubes?
- bduerst 10y agoYou'd most certainly saturate the market, which is estimated to demand < 10k tons right now: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/carbon-nanotubes-cnt-market http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/carbon-na...
- jws 10y agoBut where would the market go when carbon nanotubes and fibers move from exotic and expensive materials to "cheaper than aluminum". It could displace a lot of aluminum and steel.
- ams6110 10y agoInteresting possibilities, right? Imagine automobiles, bridges, buildings all built with carbon frames at a cost potentially far lower than current aluminum or steel, and also consuming a fraction of the energy to produce?
- TheSpiceIsLife 10y agoI'm generally not a big fan of the drive by pithy comment, but: Space elevator!
- bduerst 10y agoWell carbon fiber doesn't bend, so for car frames it wouldn't be the best choice since crumple zones would be non-existent. There will probably be some good applications, but I don't think it's a full replacement for metals.
- the8472 10y agothey would be used to reinforce concrete, plastics and whatever you could think of. as long as they're bound into the material in a way that's not easily released into the air or ground we should be fine.
- semi-extrinsic 10y agoThe big problem, as I commented further down, is that the volumes of CO2 we need to capture absolutely dwarf the production volumes of essentially any product. I just crunched the numbers, and if everything sold on Amazon was made from 100% captured CO2, it would still account for significantly less than 1% of what we need to capture, transport and store.
- the8472 10y agoI don't think "sold on amazon" is a good benchmark when it comes to bulk mass. Construction materials might be a better choice. Concrete production is measured in Gt/a. And of course we also need to reduce carbon emissions, capture is not a singular solution, but it may help during the transition to renewables where we still need gas plants.
- bduerst 10y agoWell concrete already uses lime, which is calcium carbonate (the original carbon sink). Maybe skip the carbon fiber use case all together and figure out a way to effectively produce artificial calcium carbonate.