Global warming – a thorny issue that makes scientists wary. CO2 has been seen as the greatest threat in global warming over the past decades. However, scientists think it is necessary to give more attention to methane. Recent studies inform about it.
Methane is a strong greenhouse gas. Methane production contributes to both human (petrolatum and automotive industry, cattle breeding, and other industries) and natural influences (oceans, swamps and wetlands, etc.)
What Do the Latest Studies Say?
According to a 2014 Princeton University study published on Nature, methane retains heat up to twenty five times more than the more common carbon dioxide.
According to a new proposal published in the journal Nature Sustainability, a group of researchers from Stanford University suggest that global warming can be mitigated by chemically converting methane in the atmosphere to CO2. The Princeton researchers believe the methane emissions will outpace CO2 emissions, according to ScienceDaily.
“We’re not getting the job done on reducing emissions, so I think we need to look at some of these other approaches,” Rob Jackson tells @latimes. One possibility is turning methane into CO2, which could eliminate about a sixth of human-caused warming. https://t.co/vZ0NGyVPvo pic.twitter.com/3YnGlMsCA0
— Stanford Earth (@StanfordEarth) May 21, 2019
Interesting Properties of Zeolite
A chemist Edward Solomon from Stanford University explains that he is developing a means of converting methane to CO2 with porous minerals called zeolites, the Los Angeles Times reported. Zeolites are porous minerals made up of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. Zeolite is known for the ability to purify wastewater. Solomon proposes using zeolites to catch methane and help oxidize it.
The scientists believe that the facilities who are already removing CO2 from the atmosphere could be the ones to physically convert methane into CO2, the LA Times noted. Popular Science added that with traditional carbon capture, gas needs to be stored, but with this proposed new method CO2 would be released back into the atmosphere.
If we converted all of the human-caused methane in the atmosphere, we could eliminate one-sixth of the warming in the atmosphere. It would help to get more time for researchers to work on other projects reducing global warming. Hopefully, the latest science findings and solutions will soon be put into practice.
Credit: flickr.com/photos/nsf_beta/4416688271, Pixabay.com
Source: greenmatters.com/p/co2-methane-proposal-convert
