Livermore scientists trap pollutants with bubbles

LIVERMORE, Calif. (KGO) -- A breakthrough by Bay Area researchers could lead to dramatic cuts in one of the most common greenhouse gasses and ABC7 News learned the system is deceptively simple.

It usually takes more than a bottle of soda to shake up researchers at the Lawrence Livermore Lab, but they believe a new system to capture the bubbles inside could help fight global warming.

"The idea is that it's full of CO2 in solution and that's what gives it its bubbles, and that's what the capsules are going to soak up," John Varicella from Lawrence Livermore Lab explained.

First, it helps to understand the bubbles contain CO2 or carbon dioxide -- the same greenhouse gas that's emitted from power plants across the country. And while a few bubbles in your soda won't cause much pollution, the Livermore team is working on a way to capture massive amounts of industrial CO2.

"Our energy system in the United States emits about five billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. Every bit of that could be captured," Roger Aines, Ph.D., from Lawrence Livermore Lab said.

To do that, Aines and Varicella began to think of a way to absorb the CO2. Their answer is a system of tiny microcapsules that seem deceptively simple at first glance.

"It's like a really small water balloon. So on the inside you have a solution that absorbs C02," Varicella said.

But the breakthrough came when engineers developed a sophisticated polymer coating that would allow the CO2 gas to seep in and be captured inside. The same results can be seen by the naked eye just by mixing the bluish microcapsules into the soda.

"And as they absorb the C02, they go from this dark blue to a yellow and that means that their pH is changing and that means that they're absorbing CO2," Varicella said.

Now, fast-forward a few years, and imagine giant filters filled with the microcapsules, placed on coal burning power plants across the nation. And after enough CO2 is captured, the Livermore team says it's a simple process to release it for disposal.

"And then you can take that and store it underground," Varicella said.

The team is already searching for ways to scale the technology up, potentially trapping a major source of pollution in a tiny bubble.

The solution currently being tested as an absorbing agent is simple too. It's basically the chemical equivalent of liquefied baking soda, suspended inside the bubbles.

Written and produced by Tim Didion