CO2ube : The World’s First Carbon Dioxide Filtration System is a kickstarter project by green-technologies company Ecoviate who put together what they’re calling their dram team – Param Jaggi and Jonny Cohen who were both named to the 2012 & 2013 Forbes ’30 under 30: Energy’ list.
From the projects Kickstarter page:
What is the CO2ube?
The CO2ube (pronounced: C-O-Tube) is a device that fits directly on the exhaust of any motor vehicle. The device uses photosynthesis and simple chemical reactions to diminish carbon dioxide from the source itself.
The idea started when the founder of Ecoviate, Param Jaggi (now 18), was 13. After doing a few years of lab work with bio-fuels and bio-reactors, he thought that carbon should be captured at its source.
How does it work?
The CO2ube uses basic biology and chemical processes to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the exhaust.
There is ~14 pounds of carbon dioxide for every gallon of fuel burnt. This means that we had to build a product that would expand the surface area of the exhaust stream to accomodate the high volume of vehicle emissions. Our designs expand the surface area of the exhaust stream by 5000x through the use of staggered micro-villi structures (patent pending).
Even with this tedious rendering process, Ecoviate strives to make the CO2ube as beautifully designed and user-friendly as possible.
Here is what happens inside of the device (staggered plates to expand the surface area of the exhaust stream):
We have created a proprietary method to grow algae within the exhaust stream through a process of artificial selection in the lab. We have grown multiple generations of algae colonies to find the most suitable strain for the heat and pressure of the exhaust system (artificial selection).
The general process is described by this equation:
We are using the process of photosynthesis and applying it to where carbon dioxide is being released.
Since the process of algae photosynthesis is not fast enough to accomodate for the free flowing exhaust emissions, we have implemented a secondary reactant into the device.
The product of combustion, in its purest form, are carbon dioxide and water (and heat). With enough surface area (or coolant), there are concentrations of carbonic acid that flow through the exhaust stream. Carbonic acid is a weak acid, and filters through the exhaust stream in aqueous form.
In chemistry, you can react a weak acid with a strong base to create a neutral pH product. The CO2ube reacts the carbonic acid with sodium hydroxide (very strong base pH) to create a neutral chemical.
By performing a simple chemical reaction, we are able to create sodium carbonate. This is a sodium salt of carbonic acid and is completely disposable because of its neutral pH. Think back to chemistry class!
The difference between the CO2ube and more typical carbon capture technologies is that we are able to use the exhaust flow to dispose of the products rather than having sodium carbonate and algae residue build up in your exhaust stream.
We implemented the acid/base reduction and artificial selection of the algae to reduce the amount of carbon that is released back into the environment after the algae has either outgrown the container or has disposed. If traditional carbon capture methods are used, the algae will release its stored carbon back into the environment. The CO2ube works around that by finding the most optimal strains of algae, implementing a secondary reaction, and being completely disposable to continue to allow for algae growth.
In general, the reaction is able to produce water, sodium carbonate, oxygen, and sugars for the algae to grow.
Due to the consumable aspect of the project and the engineering behind the designs, the CO2ube filter will last about 8-10 weeks. In the packaging, we will explain the process of easily detaching the CO2ube and how you can return or re-use the products in your daily life! At Ecoviate, we believe our products can have use outside of their intended settings- recycling is just another part of life!
That sound you’re hearing is millions of liberal Environmentalists heads exploding in unison as a simple fix, at the source, for a few hundred bucks a year doesn’t play into their Climate-Change-Global-Warming-Junk-Science-Ponzi-Scheme… that’s more about control than saving or protecting the environment.
Here’s a little chemistry to see how much CO2 is released when you burn one gallon of gas in your car. Cars combust a mixture of gasoline and air to drive pistons and turn their drive shaft. The drive shaft turns the wheels.
Gasoline is a mixture of different hydrocarbons, but it is composed mostly of octane. The percent of octane present is given in the octane rating of the fuel. Octane’s chemical formula is C8H18, and it combines with atmospheric oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and energy. This combustion reaction is the same reaction our body uses to generate energy from food. Other elements in the air (such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide) are burned as well. They create other molecules like nitrates, but they are ignored in our calculations.
Here’s our chemical reaction so far: C8H18 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O .
We just need to balance it so that the number of elements that enter our reaction exit our reaction. Unbalanced, the formula has 8 carbon atoms (C), 18 hydrogen atoms (H), and 2 oxygen atoms (O) creating 1 carbon atom, 3 oxygen atoms, and 2 hydrogen atoms. Atoms can’t appear or disappear! We need to balance the equation by saying how many molecules of each element entered and exited. We do that by putting coefficients in front of each molecule in our equation that, when multiplied by the number of atoms in the coefficient’s associated molecule, create the same number of atoms entering and exiting. Balancing the combustion reaction yields, 2C8H18 + 25O2 -> 16CO2 + 18H2O. 16 carbon atoms, 36 hydrogen atoms, and 50 oxygen atoms combine to create 16 carbon atoms, 36 hydrogen atoms, and 50 oxygen atoms. When you look at the coefficients, our combustion reaction takes in two octane molecules for every 16 carbon dioxide molecules it creates. That means for every kerosene molecule, 8 carbon dioxide molecules are created. Scaling up, for every gram of kerosene consumed, 8 grams of carbon dioxide are created.
That’s all the chemistry we need. We just need to know the density of octane so we can move from a measure of volume like gallons to a measure of mass like grams. The density of octane is 0.803 grams/milliliter or 3,039.69 grams/gallon.
1
Gallon of fuel (a mixture of hydro-
carbons) burned
>
0.93
Gallons of octane consumed (1)
>
2,826.91
Grams of octane consumed (2)
>
14.1
Pounds of CO2 produced per gallon consumed (3)
What does this do to the fuel economy of the vehicle and the horsepower? When you restrict the exhaust flow the engine has to work harder to get rid of the exhaust. If you’re forcing it through the offset channels would it end up burning more fuel? Also what does the exhaust smell like if it’s Sulphur based?
I’m confused on the C02 Weight. How do you get 14 pounds of C02 per gallon of fuel,
Gasoline 6.073 pounds per US Gallon.
Since I’m not a scientist nor did I write the quotes piece the only answer I have is from http://www.stewartmarion.com/carbon-footprint/html/carbon-footprint-car.html and I can’t vouch for integrity of the study but here’s what they have to say:
Here’s a little chemistry to see how much CO2 is released when you burn one gallon of gas in your car. Cars combust a mixture of gasoline and air to drive pistons and turn their drive shaft. The drive shaft turns the wheels.
Gasoline is a mixture of different hydrocarbons, but it is composed mostly of octane. The percent of octane present is given in the octane rating of the fuel. Octane’s chemical formula is C8H18, and it combines with atmospheric oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), and energy. This combustion reaction is the same reaction our body uses to generate energy from food. Other elements in the air (such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide) are burned as well. They create other molecules like nitrates, but they are ignored in our calculations.
Here’s our chemical reaction so far: C8H18 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O .
We just need to balance it so that the number of elements that enter our reaction exit our reaction. Unbalanced, the formula has 8 carbon atoms (C), 18 hydrogen atoms (H), and 2 oxygen atoms (O) creating 1 carbon atom, 3 oxygen atoms, and 2 hydrogen atoms. Atoms can’t appear or disappear! We need to balance the equation by saying how many molecules of each element entered and exited. We do that by putting coefficients in front of each molecule in our equation that, when multiplied by the number of atoms in the coefficient’s associated molecule, create the same number of atoms entering and exiting. Balancing the combustion reaction yields, 2C8H18 + 25O2 -> 16CO2 + 18H2O. 16 carbon atoms, 36 hydrogen atoms, and 50 oxygen atoms combine to create 16 carbon atoms, 36 hydrogen atoms, and 50 oxygen atoms. When you look at the coefficients, our combustion reaction takes in two octane molecules for every 16 carbon dioxide molecules it creates. That means for every kerosene molecule, 8 carbon dioxide molecules are created. Scaling up, for every gram of kerosene consumed, 8 grams of carbon dioxide are created.
That’s all the chemistry we need. We just need to know the density of octane so we can move from a measure of volume like gallons to a measure of mass like grams. The density of octane is 0.803 grams/milliliter or 3,039.69 grams/gallon.
1
Gallon of fuel (a mixture of hydro-
carbons) burned
>
0.93
Gallons of octane consumed (1)
>
2,826.91
Grams of octane consumed (2)
>
14.1
Pounds of CO2 produced per gallon consumed (3)
1 gallon gas * 93% gallon octane / 1 gallon gas
0.93 gallons octane * 3,039.69 grams octane / gallon
2,826.91 grams octane * 8 grams CO2 / 1 gram octane * 1 kilogram / 1,000 grams * 0.625 pounds / kilogram
There you have it. To the best of our ability, on average…
one gallon of gas produces 14 pounds of carbon dioxide.
What does this do to the fuel economy of the vehicle and the horsepower? When you restrict the exhaust flow the engine has to work harder to get rid of the exhaust. If you’re forcing it through the offset channels would it end up burning more fuel? Also what does the exhaust smell like if it’s Sulphur based?
Perhaps this is just a prototype, but all the components look like plumbing parts. I would not think they would stand up very long to heat & vibration
its great it put on all vehical