A carbon revolution

It's a little surprising to know that the technology already exists to scrub thousands of gigatonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere, to return the atmosphere to its former state, before climate change began, and to do it in just a few years. It may even make a profit.

The solution?

Convert CO2 in the atmosphere into a super-strong, ultra-light material to create groundbreaking, futuristic, and very cool carbon products. Diamonds from the sky' approach turns CO2 into valuable products — press release

Graphene and nanotubes

The material is called graphene and comes in the form of carbon nanotubes. Graphene is an atom-thick layer of carbon which literally comes from another dimension — the second dimension.

Carbon nanotubes are tubes made of graphene, but a millionth of a millimetre in size, and with astounding physical qualities.

Finest graphene. Francis Sedgemore, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Manufacturers of the first graphene jacket say "it’s so strong and so stretchy that the fibres of a spider web coated in graphene could catch a falling plane." Graphene Jacket. Part jacket. Part science experiment. Made with the only material in the world with a Nobel prize. — Vollebak

It's not just jackets, there's nanotube-infused running shoes Mudclaw G 260 — Innov-8, smaller, faster computer chips Carbon Nanotube transistors may soon give waning Moore’s Law a boost — SingularityHub and even the possibility of space elevators. Scientists say new material could hold up an actual space elevator — Futurism

It's a high-tech climate solution for the future.

Atmospheric profits

Dr Stuart Licht, Professor of Chemistry at George Washington University was the first to discover how to take CO2 out of the air and turn it into carbon nanotubes. The process he calls C2CNT, or "carbon to carbon nanotubes". Diamonds from the sky' approach turns CO2 into valuable products — press release

Writing later in a scientific, peer reviewed journal, he explained that the process could remove enough CO2 from the atmosphere to return it to natural pristine levels before the industrial revolution and climate change began, it could be done in 10 years, and it could be immensely profitable. Carbon nanotube wools made directly from CO2 by molten electrolysis: Value driven pathways to carbon dioxide greenhouse gas mitigation — research article

How profitable?

The cost of production is estimated at around $660 per ton. The current market price — somewhere between $100,000-$400,000 per ton. Cleaning up CO2 emissions could be worth millions — Phys Org

There are also plans to reduce costs even more using solar energy.

Graphene ink used for printing circuits. James Macleod, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED

Sky's the limit?

Ideas are becoming reality. C2CNT is now a company Diamonds from the sky — C2CNT and has attracted investment from Canadian power company Capital Power of about $20 million to $25 million to produce 7500 tonnes of CNT per year. Carbon Conversion — Capital Power Global carbon nanotube market to grow to around 4000 tonnes by 2023 — Plastics Today

C2CNT need to be bold if they want to remove all excess CO2 from the atmosphere. If we estimate excess CO2 at 1000 gigatonnes, that means they would need to produce about 270 gigatonnes of nanotubes to return the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels. Carbon dioxide to carbon nanotube scale-up — C2CNT Carbon XPrize Round 2 Submission It's a gigantic increase in production, and no doubt a shocking drop in price to match.

Will there be buyers? Some scientists doubt this, and say it's "most unlikely" that the nanotube market could ever make a difference to CO2 levels. We can turn CO2 in the air into new materials – but don’t expect that to stop climate change — The Conversation

C2CNT's view is much more optimistic. Their plan is "to become the clear replacement product of choice" for steel and aluminum, and as an additive in cement. Carbon dioxide to carbon nanotube scale-up — C2CNT Carbon XPrize Round 2 Submission The more replacements they find, the better for CO2 levels.

Ultralight running shoes made from graphene. British High Commission, New Delhi, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Health concerns

But all of this counts for little if nanotubes are found to have health risks leading to a global ban.

One early study suggests graphene could have an effect similar to asbestos. Graphene slips deeper into lungs than predicted — Chemistry World

Other research shows that graphene biodegrades inside the human body, making it harmless. Biodegradable graphene — Graphene Flagship

For the moment, many are saying there's not enough research to say if nanotubes are dangerous or not. Carbon nanotubes and disease risks — Commercial Risk

There's a lot of unknowns in C2CNT's plan. Will customers fall in love with the new cool carbon technology? Will it be safe enough? Will there be the demand for gigatonnes of nanotubes, enough to remove all excess CO2 from the atmosphere?

The answers to these questions may be an indication of the kind of future we have ahead of us.