Escalating Ethnic Clashes in China
Written by Takeru
Ethnic conflict in the Xinjian region of China continues to flare between the Han Chinese -- who make up for most of China's population -- and Uighurs -- Turkic-speaking Muslims -- where the clashes have claimed the lives of close to two hundred civilians.
Coal gasification to reduce warming
It a fascinating story that draws on simple ideas backed by incredibly complex science and mathematics. Researchers at China's ENN are using micro algae, which replicates rapidly when it is exposed to sunlight and carbon dioxide, to consume the CO2 produced by coal gasification plants.
Why is this important? Because the CO2 emissions from coal-fired plants add a huge amount to the accumulation of greenhouse gases surrounding our Earth, believed to be a leading cause of global warming. Research in coal gasification suggests that the process may prove to be an effective weapon in our ongoing struggle against environmental degradation.
A bioreactor that "eats" carbon dioxide
Back to our story. The folks at ENN built a large bioreactor (a complex assembly of tubes and more tubes engineered to "manufacture" algae) and dropped in a bit of sea algae (they like algae because it consumes CO2 very rapidly). They then introduced the harmful CO2 gas from the coal plant to their algae. At the end of the day, the algae grows and greenhouse emissions don't.
Gasification is a process that uses steam, air and high temperature and pressure to break coal down into its component parts; the resulting "clean" gases can be captured and used in a variety of applications. Once the stuff of science fiction, government agencies around the globe, including the US Department of Energy, are taking a hard look at the technology as one way to minimize the negative impact of carbon fuels on our atmosphere.
Technologies working together
Part of the benefit - harmful CO2 gases are easily captured and prevented from entering the atmosphere. And once captured, it's a small thing to send them to the belly of the bioreactor for "digestion." Researchers are still working to resolve some issues with the process, for example, what to do with all the algae offspring produced in the bioreactor.
Chinese researchers are doubtful that the algae bioreactor is the ultimate solution for CO2 emissions, but the research is a step in the right direction. And the by-products of the process may yet prove to be valuable: algae may be used in the production of biofuels, and the gases and heat produced by coal gasification power plants provide two separate sources of power for electrical generation.
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Last Updated on 20 November 2009
