Greennova Foundation kickstarts GRAFECO2, a new project which following Greennova’s purpose, will fight global warming and climate change by removing greenhouse effect gases from the atmosphere.

GRAFECO2 is going to investigate different ways graphene structures can be used to capture atmospheric CO2. Graphene will work as a carbon dioxide strainer, separating this greenhouse effect gas from the rest of atmospherical gases.

Graphene is one structural form of carbon, in which its atoms are placed in a two-dimension honeycomb lattice (see picture). Its very special properties are being researched in fields such as optics, electronics or mechanics.

The strainer capability can be accomplished by inserting some “impurities” in the lattice. These impurities create holes by joining more than one hexagon together. Adjusting the size of these holes, molecules bigger or smaller than CO2 can be stopped or forced to go through the lattice.

GRAFECO2 is developed in collaboration with University of Barcelona – Faculty of Chemistry, with the help from PhD candidate Elizabeth Martínez.

Elizabeth belongs to the Design and Process Optimization research group. She will be the project’s main researcher and her PhD thesis will be based on her findings.

GRAFECO2 is a non-profit project and is aligned with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommended polices to limit global warming and climate change impacts. (follow this link to watch the video explaining why we must remove CO2 from the atmosphere)