In addition to using the wind to generate clean energy, turbines can help transfer carbon dioxide to systems that extract greenhouse gases from the air (SN: 8/10/21). The researchers say their simulations show that wind turbines can draw polluted air above a city, or through a chimney, into the turbines' backwater. This increases the amount of CO2 that turns it into machines that can extract it from the atmosphere. The researchers plan to describe their simulation and wind tunnel testing of a scaled-down system at a meeting of the American Physical Society's Fluid Dynamics Division on Nov. 21 in Indianapolis. Addressing climate change will require dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon dioxide humans emit into the air, but this alone will not be enough (SN: 3/10/22). Part of the solution could be direct air capture systems that remove some CO2 from the atmosphere (SN: 9/9/22). But the large amounts of CO2 produced by factories, power plants, and cities are often concentrated at heights beyond the reach of the machines on the ground that can remove it. and. Mechanical engineer Luciano Castillo, also of Purdue, says that as large, power-producing wind turbines spin, they cause turbulence that pulls air into the wake behind them. This is an effect that can concentrate carbon dioxide enough to make it possible to capture it, especially near big cities like Chicago. "The nice thing is that [around Chicago] you have one of the best wind sources in the area, so you can use the wind turbine to take some of the polluted air in the city and capture it," Castillo says. Wind turbines do not need the cooling that nuclear and fossil fuel power plants need. "So you're not just generating clean energy," he says, "using water."
Running capture systems from energy produced by wind turbines can also relieve the financial burden that often comes with removing CO2 from the air. "Even with tax credits and potentially CO2 sales, there's a big difference between the value you can derive from catching it and the actual cost," says Nelson. "Our method will be an added benefit at no cost" for wind turbine farms.
Reference:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/wind-turbines-capture-carbon-dioxide-power
