Synthetic trees capture carbon 1000 times faster

Synthetic trees to capture CO2 from the air and convert it into liquid CO2.

Research scientists at the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University have come up with an ingenious idea to capture atmospheric CO2 and perhaps, save the world as well. The idea, like many other earth saving proposals, gains inspiration from nature. These scientists are developing “synthetic trees” that are capable of collecting CO2 1,000 times faster than organic trees.


Unlike natural trees, these man-made marvels are designed to capture CO2 in plastic “leaves,” and then convert it into liquid form to ease storage. The technology isn’t being developed for applications such as coal-fired power plants, which usually depend on advanced carbon capture devices, but should prove to be a boon for other polluters like cars and jets, for which it was nearly impossible to capture emissions.

The inventors claim that the system is hundreds of times better than installing a windmill to generate electricity and for every 1000kg of CO2 captured, the system releases 200kg, ensuring a net CO2 capture of 800Kg.