Dr. Omar Yaghi has recently led research in developing “Covalent organic framework number 999,” or COF 999, a yellow, powder-like material that has the potential to change make great steps forward in limiting carbon dioxide emissions. Just half a pound of the powder can absorb as much carbon dioxide in a year as a full grown tree. This week, we spoke with Dr. Yaghi about COF 999 and what it can do. For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/cof-999-carbon-capture-with-dr-omar-yaghi/
What is COF 999?
UC Berkeley chemistry professor Dr. Omar Yaghi recently led a study which has the potential to be revolutionary in reducing the quantity of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. “Covalent organic framework number 999,” or COF 999, is a yellow, powder-like material that has billions of tiny holes. Inside of these holes, researchers in Dr. Yaghi’s lab have installed molecular units that can seek out carbon dioxide, enabling the substance to suck in and capture the carbon dioxide. COF 999 has a huge capacity for absorbing emissions; half a pound of the powder can absorb as much carbon dioxide as a tree captures in a year.
The carbon dioxide problem
The quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached an all-time high, with a global average in 2023 of 419.3 parts per million. This immense amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from a number of human sources, the most common of which is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas for energy. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, and contributes significantly to global warming and other environmental issues, including ocean acidification.
Applying COF 999
In an interview with Forbes, Dr. Yaghi described the way he sees COF 999 being implemented as a solution. The powder can be made into pellets or a coating, and then integrated into facilities where flue gas –the gas that is released from industrial processes –is released. “This flue gas would pass through the material and because it just plucks out CO2, it cleans CO2 from that flue before it reaches the atmosphere.” According to the San Francisco Standard, Dr. Yaghi says that the powder “requires no energy, shows no signs of degradation even after 100 uses, and is made from inexpensive, commercially available materials.” Another benefit is that the material only needs to be heated to 50 or 60 degrees Celsius, rather than to 120 like many other traditional materials necessary for carbon capture.
In order to see significant change in the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentration, we will need to couple preventing carbon dioxide emissions with direct air capture, which COF 999 can also do. According to Zihui Zhou, a UC Berkeley graduate student who worked in Dr. Yaghi’s lab says, “Currently, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is more than 420 ppm, but that will increase to maybe 500 or 550 before we fully develop and employ flue gas capture. So if we want to decrease the concentration and go back to maybe 400 or 300 ppm, we have to use direct air capture.” It will take time, however, for scientists to be able to use COF 999 effectively. This is because the powder has not been tested in real-life scenarios, and therefore the costs and risks from the powder are largely unknown; for example, the powder might restrict air flow through filters when applied, reducing the practicality of the powder.
About our guest
Dr. Omar Yaghi is a professor of chemistry at the University of California Berkeley, and the Founding Director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute, whose mission is to build centers of research in developing countries and provide opportunities for young scholars to discover and learn. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences as well as the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Resources
For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/cof-999-carbon-capture-with-dr-omar-yaghi/
Ethan: I’m Ethan Elkind, and this is Climate Break — climate solutions in a hurry. Today’s proposal: a powder-like material that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Omar Yaghi, professor of chemistry at the University of California Berkeley, describes the material and how it works.
Dr. Yaghi: Well to the naked eye, it looks like baby powder or granulated sugar. This material we call covalent organic framework number 999, or for short COF 999, it has a yellow color. But if you zoom in on just one granule, you'll see that each granule is riddled with holes, billions of them. And in these holes is exactly where we can install molecular units that can seek out CO2 from air and concentrate it into the pores, so that you have clean air.
Ethan: Yaghi describes why he believes COF 999 is an improvement over other methods of capturing carbon.
Dr. Yaghi: This material is durable. It can be cycled many cycles. But also the constituents of this material are not exotic. They're not strange constituents that require laborious methods of making.
Traditional materials for CO2 capture, such as those amine solutions, you have to heat them up to 120 degrees Celsius to remove the CO2 after they had adsorbed it from the air. Our material only has to be heated to 50 or 60 degrees Celsius.
Ethan: That was UC Berkeley chemistry professor Dr. Omar Yaghi. Learn more about COF 999 at ClimateBreak.org.