investigator have discovered a method of capturing C dioxide from fossil fuel burn using cheap and dim-witted chemicals already used in diligence . The team believes that the approach is scalable in a style that could not only be used on top of industrial lamp chimney , but also on vehicles exhaust and other movable sources of carbon dioxide .
The breakthrough , reported inScience Advances , used cyanuramide , a polymer that is the main component part of Formica , a type of laminated composite material . The melamine was combined with diethylenetriamine and cyanuric acid ( commercially useable chemicals ) and was treated with methanal , which created nanoscale pores on the polymer .
The consequence is the creation of a fabric that could absorb almost all the carbon dioxide in a flue flatulence mixture within about three minute . The system works at a temperature of 40 ° C ( 104 ° F)and does n’t release carbon dioxide until its hot up to 80 ° one C ( 176 ° F ) .

Schematic view of carbon dioxide getting captured in the material. Image credit: Haiyan Mao and Jeffrey Reimer, UC Berkeley
" In this study , we concentrate on cheaper material design for capture and storage and elucidating the interaction chemical mechanism between CO2and the material , " lead author Dr Haiyan Mao from UC Berkeley said in astatement .
" This oeuvre creates a general industrial enterprise method acting towards sustainable CO2capture using poriferous mesh . We go for we can project a future bond for capturing auto exhaust gaseous state , or maybe an attachment to a building or even a coat on the airfoil of furniture . "
The team is continuing to pick off the composition of this polymer to make an even more effective system . The finish is to have an efficient , scalable , reclaimable , high - capacity carbon paper - dioxide capture organization . Achieving that might be a game changer for reducing nursery gas expelling .