Scientific American - USA (2019-12)

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steel and cement, while the

syngas can be turned into ultra-

clean fuels and value-added

products. The process can be

driven by either electric or solar

power, eliminating the need to

burn fuel and thereby resulting

in much lower CO 2 emissions

than conventional technologies.

“We are making Qatar CO 2

emissions into two products

that are important to the

economy and will broaden the

role of hydrocarbons in Qatar’s

manufacturing facilities,”

Elbashir said. “CNTs are very

expensive and extremely

versatile, and can be used

to manufacture products

such as computers and other

high-quality materials. And

at the same time, we are also

producing syngas, which can

then be used to make the

chemicals Qatar’s processing

industries rely on.”

The CARGEN reactor is a

result of a nearly US$5 million

Exceptional Proposal grant from

the Qatar National Research

Fund’s National Priorities

Research Program, said Ph.D.

student Mohamed Sufi yan

Challiwala, who has been a

signifi cant contributor to the

project. Challiwala started

working on the project as a

master’s student in chemical

engineering at Texas A&M at

Qatar before pursuing his Ph.D.

through the main campus and

beginning his doctoral research

in Qatar.

Challiwala said, “CARGEN

provides a new perspective on

the implementation of natural

gas–reforming technology.

Rather than considering

carbon or ‘coke’ formation as

a process challenge, CARGEN

treats it as an opportunity to

convert at least 65% of CO 2

per pass with 50% lower

energy requirements. Most

importantly, it produces CNTs

and fi bers that are considered

to be next-generation materials

with tremendous applications.

Because of its uniqueness,

this process is now patented

with the support of Qatar

Foundation.”

Hanif Choudhury, a research

scientist in Elbashir’s group,

said, “The CARGEN concept

of CNT generation has been

validated at the micro-, milli-

and gram scales, with the

quality of the carbon nanotubes

controlled and preserved at

every scale.”

The next step is partnering

with industry collaborators to

scale up the technology even

further.

“This is a major achievement

in the way people will look at

CO 2 utilization in the future,”

Elbashir said. “It’s a homegrown

technology developed in Qatar

based on the interest of Qatar

to utilize and sequester CO 2 and

reduce the country’s carbon

footprint. We are producing

material out of it, not just

liquid fuel that will be burned

to produce something else or

power a car, for example, which

then puts CO 2 back into the

atmosphere. If we can scale

up this technology, it will be

a turning point for everyone

worried about CO 2 .”

4 SURPRISING USES FOR

CARBON NANOTUBES

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are hollow cylinders made of

graphite carbon atoms at nanoscale (10−9 meters), which is

much smaller than the width of a human hair. Discovered

more than 50 years ago, CNTs could revolutionize the way

that we make — well, everything. So how could CNTs

be used?

SUPER-POWER COMPUTING

Researchers have found ways to “unzip” CNTs into atom-

thick sheets of graphene. Like silicon, graphene is a semi-

conductor. With their nanoscale size, CNTs can pack much

more computing power in one. They could even be used as

“quantum wires” able to switch a single electron.

SOLAR POWER

Researchers have been exploring ways to use this material

to signifi cantly increase the e¦ ciency of photovoltaic

cells. In addition, a team at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology pioneered a way to use CNTs to store 10,000

times more energy with solar thermal systems than with

previous methods.

MOLECULAR SYRINGES AND CANCER TREATMENT

Biotechnology researchers have been fi nding ways to

exploit CNTs to inject drugs or genes into individual cells.

In one study, CNTs were injected into kidney tumors in

mice and then a near-infrared laser was aimed at the

cancer cells, making the CNTs vibrate. With the highest

“dose” of CNTs and 30 seconds of laser light, the tumors

disappeared in 80% of the mice.

SPACE ELEVATOR

Because CNTs are both strong and lightweight, researchers

have explored ways to create extremely tough and

fl exible materials from them. Some experts imagine that

62,000-mile-long cables made of CNTs stretching out

of the atmosphere and connected to a geosynchronous

“captured” asteroid could be used to lift people and

supplies from the Earth’s surface and into orbit for far less

expense and risk than using traditional rockets.

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