Itís possible for ACs to be retrofitted with technology
based on CO 2 ìnanoscavengers,î says Nashaat Nassar,
professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the
University of Calgary. One CCU program is developing
new, cheaper, and higher-efficiency membranes that
can be integrated into AC splittersóand ultimately
industrial heating, ventilation, and AC (HVAC) systemsóto
scavenge CO 2. The captured CO 2 can then be mineralized
directly into raw materials such as calcium carbonate
and magnesium carbonate, for example. The making of
cement is currently a very high CO 2 -emitting process, and
utilization of captured CO 2 could offset much of those
emissions.
An AC will have a filter (or series of filters) through which
incoming air will pass. ìThe first thing you want to do iscontaining waste using processes such as mineral
carbonationósequestering CO 2 into minerals such as
calcium carbonate, which is used in the building industryó
will have the dual benefits of reducing waste disposal and
generating useful products that can be reinjected into a
sustainable economic cycle.Split and catch
Air conditioners (ACs) are an off-the-shelf technology
that has been around for years. Rather than being
constructed as a single unit, many of the latest models
are split into two basic partsóthe first an internal unit that
picks up heat from an enclosed space, and the second
an outdoor unit that ejects heat to the outsideówith
refrigerant flowing between them.Advertorial
G R AY M AT T E R
Qatar doesnít just invite scientific talent to collaborate or relocate.
The petroleum-rich Gulf nation is also tappingóand creatingósome of
the regionís best homegrown minds.
ìAs the national funding agency, the Qatar National Research
Fund (QNRF) invests heavily in building much-needed local human
research capacity across all fields of science and all education levels,
from Kñ12 to established scientists,î says Abdul Sattar, founding
director of QNRF.Qatar now boasts two homegrown research universitiesóHamad
Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and Qatar Universityóas well as branch
campuses of six international universities, all in Dohaís Education
Cit y.The national vision
The countryís burgeoning research and educational programs
tackle some of the worldís most pressing issues. Qatarís National
Vision 2030 calls for taking a proactive and significant role in
assessing and mitigating the impact of climate change. There is an
emphasis on using ìcleanî modes of transportation and renewable
sources of energy as much as possible.As part of his studentsí graduate training, Yusuf Bicer, assistant
professor of sustainable development at HBKU, has them
investigating ways to convert solar energy into more storable,
transportable, carbon-free forms of energy, such as clean hydrogen
and ammonia.
Renewables tend to suffer from intermittency. Bicer says, ìWe need
to utilize and store wind energy whenever there is an excess wind,
and do the same with solar energy whenever we have daylight.îToo much sun?
Qatar and the Gulf region have an excess of solar irradiation. This
creates both opportunities and challenges for clean energy.
Qatar is a major producer of liquid natural gas (LNG), the
combustion of which releases CO 2 and contributes to climate change.
Bicerís lab is looking into using solar energy to turn LNG into ìacleaner type of medium: carbon-free hydrogen or ammonia,î he
says. These can be used for zero-carbon energy storage and fuel.
ìTransporting electricity overseas using wires exceeding a certain
distance is not possible, but we can transport chemicals as energy
carriers.îAll itís cracked up to be
ìThe hydrogen economy seems to be the core of future sustainable
energy systems,î says Amro Mohamed, a chemical engineer and
Ph.D. candidate under Bicer.Producing so-called ìdirty hydrogenî uses coal or other
nonrenewable energy sources. ìMy main thesis work is developing
and designing materials for photocatalytic reduction of nitrogen,î
utilizing photons from solar light to break chemical bonds and
directly produce green ammonia, Mohamed explains.
He uses rational design, simulations, and experiments to select
materials with high thermal stability, relative ease of operation,
and most importantly, photosensitivity. ìWe also need to look at
environmental impacts, costs, and logistics,î Mohamed says.(Molten) salt and batteries
Lithium-ion batteries are the most popular way to store energy.
But these degrade with temperature over about 40∞C, and ambient
temperatures in the Gulf region can regularly top 50∞.
Manal AlShafi, another graduate student working with Bicer,
compared a large variety of mechanical, thermal, chemical, and
electromagnetic energy storage methods in terms of a variety of
factors, and asked an international panel of experts to weight these
factors. We then ìcompared the environmental impact of storing one
kilowatt-hour of energy,î she says.ìBasically, we are trying to develop new parameters specifically
for hot climates and choosing which energy storage method is more
preferable for which renewable energy source by considering these
criteria,î Bicer says. One may be more efficient, but that can be
counterbalanced by its impact on the climate.1029Product.indd 514 10/21/21 7:28 AM