Science has made many significant positive impacts on society. However, like many great contributions, it has also produced unintended consequences, such as global warming. The combustion of non-renewable fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide, methane, and other toxic gasses referred to as greenhouse gasses. These gases are harmful because they lead to the rising of the Earth’s atmospheric temperature, known as global warming. Carbon capture and storage is an innovative new technology growing from green and sustainable chemistry, used to mitigate the consequences of the greenhouse effect. We are investigating how to introduce carbon capture into introductory college chemistry and high school chemistry classes using the principles of green chemistry and UN Sustainable Development Goals for guidance. A carbon capture apparatus was developed that can be re-engineered by students in a classroom. By observing changes in mass, pH, density and viscosity, we were able to test the effectiveness of the apparatus to capture CO2 in aqueous solutions. Once the effectiveness of the apparatus was optimized, ionic liquids (ILs) were then tested. ILs are organic salts that are liquids at room temperature, with many advantages over traditional solvents, including: low vapor pressure, thermal stability, and design ability. We are currently working on the synthesis of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium (BMIM) as an experimental template for CO2 capture. Our continuing goal is to build upon the information obtained through this research to create laboratory experiments suitable for a college level class, that can be further modified for the high school level. Furthermore, our results have launched a broader investigation to understand the chemical processes behind CO2 capture by liquids, and to use that information to design new chemical absorbents for CO2.

Investigating carbon capture for integrating green and sustainable chemistry and the UN Sustainable Development Goals into the chemistry classroom

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.