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I'm working with the OpenAir collective (https://openaircollective.cc https://openaircollective.cc) on open source, DIY-friendly carbon capture machines. I'm p

I'm working with the OpenAir collective (https://openaircollective.cc https://openaircollective.cc) on open source, DIY-friendly carbon capture machines. I'm particularly interested in the electrolysis of CO2. I could really use help from anyone with a chemistry background! If you're interested, please reach out to me via my email or hit me up on the OpenAir discord.

rex_lupi 5y ago
Have a degree in chem, I can be of help. Would you please elaborate a bit more on what exactly you people do? not sure if I understood it well from your website. [Also wdym by electrolysis of co2? It isnt an electrolyte per se]
- alexose 5y ago
  OpenAir is a volunteer group focused on Direct Air Capture (DAC) of CO2. There are two sides to it: Advocacy and research. The research side is currently working on open-source hardware for doing carbon capture at home. There are two projects (called Cyan and Violet) that you can follow along. I'm working on something that I hope will become a third project. Briefly, I think that electrochemical methods to absorb CO2 and convert it to useful products could be really promising for at home DAC. I'm inspired by the quinone-based approach laid out by the Hatton lab at MIT[1], and the ORNL research on nanospike catalysts[2]. Right now I need help with designing experiments and sourcing precursor chemicals. I'd also love to know more about how computational chemistry might solve some of the problems we're probably going to face with overpotentials. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16150-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16150-7 [2] https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/slct.201601169 https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10...
minhmeoke 5y ago
This seems quite cool and I really admire your efforts! For those who are already familiar with global warming / green house gases but would like to learn more about direct carbon capture, I found this chapter linked from the Open Air website to be quite useful: https://cdrprimer.org/read/chapter-2 https://cdrprimer.org/read/chapter-2 Unfortunately I don't have much of a chemistry background. But as an alternative approach, it might be interesting to consider growing blue-green algae on a massive scale in deserts like the Sahara (or on solar-powered desalinization rafts in the ocean if there are land-rights-use issues) and using these to convert sunlight + carbon dioxide into oil [1]. [1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200305132125.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200305132125.h...

rex_lupi 5y ago

Have a degree in chem, I can be of help. Would you please elaborate a bit more on what exactly you people do? not sure if I understood it well from your website. [Also wdym by electrolysis of co2? It isnt an electrolyte per se]

alexose 5y ago
OpenAir is a volunteer group focused on Direct Air Capture (DAC) of CO2. There are two sides to it: Advocacy and research. The research side is currently working on open-source hardware for doing carbon capture at home. There are two projects (called Cyan and Violet) that you can follow along. I'm working on something that I hope will become a third project. Briefly, I think that electrochemical methods to absorb CO2 and convert it to useful products could be really promising for at home DAC. I'm inspired by the quinone-based approach laid out by the Hatton lab at MIT[1], and the ORNL research on nanospike catalysts[2]. Right now I need help with designing experiments and sourcing precursor chemicals. I'd also love to know more about how computational chemistry might solve some of the problems we're probably going to face with overpotentials. [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16150-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16150-7 [2] https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/slct.201601169 https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10...

minhmeoke 5y ago

This seems quite cool and I really admire your efforts! For those who are already familiar with global warming / green house gases but would like to learn more about direct carbon capture, I found this chapter linked from the Open Air website to be quite useful: https://cdrprimer.org/read/chapter-2 https://cdrprimer.org/read/chapter-2 Unfortunately I don't have much of a chemistry background. But as an alternative approach, it might be interesting to consider growing blue-green algae on a massive scale in deserts like the Sahara (or on solar-powered desalinization rafts in the ocean if there are land-rights-use issues) and using these to convert sunlight + carbon dioxide into oil [1]. [1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200305132125.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200305132125.h...