Baking Soda Could Help Save The Planet

From PopSci





An amazing application of a college chemistry class demonstration.

Skyonic announced a novel new system, Skymine, which uses the carbon dioxide emitted from smokestacks to make baking soda. According to Skyonic CEO Joe David Jones, the system will be powered by waste heat from factories, and will produce food-grade baking soda.

Last year, the utility company Luminant installed a pilot version of the system at its Big Brown Steam Electric Station in Fairfield, Texas.

There's still quite a bit of work to be done to make the current system viable on a large scale, but the baking soda idea offers solutions to some of the economic problems posed by other carbon sequestration methods.  For starters, according to Jones, the stuff can be sold for home or industrial use or buried harmlessly in landfills or abandoned mines. 

Jones apparently got the idea for the SkyMine system while watching a Discovery Channel show with his kids. He pulled out an old college science textbook and immediately turned to a passage about converting CO₂ to baking soda.

We wonder what Arm & Hammer will think?  Perhaps they'll be a customer.

This seems to be a fabulous idea and it appears they're actually going to do it but so often, 'great ideas' seem to just wink out of existence after they're announced. I like the idea of less CO₂ going into the atmosphere but I wonder if this means more or less expensive baking soda?

This sounds a little far-fetched if you ask me.

Last year, the utility company Luminant installed a pilot version of the system at its Big Brown Steam Electric Station in Fairfield, Texas.

It's simple enough to check it out. We'll just send BubbaRay up to the top of the smokestack in Fairfield to check for baking soda.

Dang! If I'm not more careful, one of these days I'm going to end up with one of those dipdork award thingies.