Swedish Engineers Invent 'Nano Gas' That 'Instantly Neutralizes' Carbon Pollution

The old saying “fighting fire with fire” may be true or not depending upon the situation, but if someone told you the best way to fight (carbon-based) gas is with another gas, you might raise a skeptical eyebrow or two. But that’s exactly what a Swedish engineering company is claiming: successful capture of carbon from carbon-based greenhouse gases via the use of a hydrogen-based gas.

Calling their gas a ‘hydro-nano’ gas (or hydrogen-atomic nano gas, HNG), the Sweden-based HydroInfra Technologies claims their technology “instantly neutralizes carbon fuel pollution emissions.”

The company also states that its HNG is safe and cost effective (those claims, together with the anti-pollution factor, makes this a “triple bottom line” type solution). HydroInfra is currently exploring ways to bring its technology to the marketplace. The company has already signed on to a joint venture to convert ships (which transport fossil fuel and emit carbon in the process) to using HNG.

If all the claims are true and field testing goes well, this could be a real ‘game-changer’ in the carbon sequestration game (though, as always, one must still store/contain the neutralized carbon products somehow). It may also disrupt current and planned  ‘carbon credit’ schemes.

Not one for understatement or subtlety, Daniel Behr of HydroInfra offered a press statement, partly quoted here:

 “…given the massive amount of fossil fuel pollution emissions by power plants, shipping and other industry sectors, HNG provides a real solution and is already being hailed as one of the most effective and exciting green technologies the world has yet seen.” 

The HNG technology was developed by former Volvo engineer Sven Erik and was based upon the Nobel Prize-winning research on hydrogen atoms and diatomic alkali by Yuan Tseh Lee (whom Erik met at a Nobel ceremony several years ago).

The company also plans to offer its technology to coal- or oil-burning power plants around the world, stating that inserting HNG into the exhaust system has been proven to completely reduce pollution emissions to zero. Governments eager to meet or exceed their reduction targets are also on their list.

Here in the US, it has been estimated (see: Space Daily) that some 1,200 power plants are scheduled to be shuttered due to high CO2 (and other) emissions. If implemented here in the US, these plant closings could be avoided, temporarily avoiding a potential power demand crisis that might ensue in some regions.* (see note below)

How the Technology Works

The HydroInfra technology is basically a type of “scrubbing technology” utilizing three stages or phases of gas processing: hot, dry, and wet (in that order). The HNG  is added first to the stock (burned) fuel and then the emitted gas passes through the three phases, each successively reducing the pollutant content, with the final ‘wet’ phase eliminating any residual polluting emissions.

Here is a diagram of the process (Credit: HydroInfra Technologies):

 

How HNG Works

 

* While almost any technological solution to CO2 emission would seem welcome, any successful scheme or technology that “scrubs” and/or sequesters Carbon fuel emissions will encourage the continued burning of said fuels, and, hence the continued extraction of these fuels from their sources. These extraction processes are highly polluting in their own right (as with the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada) and come at a sometimes steep environmental cost (e.g., Exxon Valdez, BP oil spills)

Some  source material (including quotes, diagram) for this post came from the August 11, 2013, Wall St. Cheat Sheet article: ‘This New Gas May Eliminate All Carbon Emissions’ by Joao Peixe

Top Image: Copyright: Lightspring via shutterstock.com

13 thoughts on “Swedish Engineers Invent 'Nano Gas' That 'Instantly Neutralizes' Carbon Pollution”

  1. Successful JV talks with China and many more in the pipeline .Watch the share price soar

    I am SOOO glad I’m in on the ground floor with this opportunity, as an investor/shareholder! After years of waiting, and dealing with the naysayers, I’m feeling completely vindicated and overjoyed!!

    1. “How about because hydrogen is one of the most studied and best understood substances that there is. This makes the claim that there’s a new form truly incredible.”

      Man is that ever naive! First, they didn’t even say it was elemental hydrogen, so we don’t know that is not some kind of hydrogen compound. What about graphene? That’s nanotech carbon and we also knew a whole lot about carbon before we discovered that. what’s more, it’s elemental carbon with properties we never dreamed of before its discovery. It’s promising extremely fast, compact, low power consuming computers like we never imagined. I’m an old man, too, but my brain still works and I’ve never been a stodgy, skeptical old man. I guess you think these guys just jump out of the woodwork and propose ridiculous things for the fun of ruining their reputations? You don’t seem to be very realistic about how the world works. Sure, there’s a lot a hype and corruption in the world, but things usually don’t work the way you seem to think they do.

  2. Mostly hot air. The total absence of checkable facts on the mechanisms and economics of this ‘solution’ must make the reader extremely wary that it is probably just another hoax of which nothing more will be heard once the financiers have given backing.

    1. So the absence of more specific chemical information nullifies the value of news coverage for the layperson who wouldn’t understand it anyway? You seem to have a lot of pre-existing assumptions underlying what you’re saying. I would say “hot air” is a little extreme, to put it politely, when as far as I can tell you have much less backing up your reaction than the article has to back up its story.

      Why do you assume anything that could make a positive contribution to global warming is automatically suspect? Why do you make a knee-jerk assumption that otherwise reputable scientists are simply perpetrating a hoax? How many other things do you think are a hoax? Are you living in a world filled with hoaxes? Do you see hoaxes hiding in every shadow?

      You certainly give that impression on the basis of no evidence I can fathom while pointing your finger at the scientists for the lack of stronger evidence in the article. Why should I believe you instead of them? Got any good reasons for why I or anyone else should?

        1. “How about because hydrogen is one of the most studied and best understood substances that there is. This makes the claim that there’s a new form truly incredible.”

          Man is that ever naive! First, they didn’t even say it was elemental hydrogen, so we don’t know that is not some kind of hydrogen compound. What about graphene? That’s nanotech carbon and we also knew a whole lot about carbon before we discovered that. what’s more, it’s elemental carbon with properties we never dreamed of before its discovery. It’s promising extremely fast, compact, low power consuming computers like we never imagined. I’m an old man, too, but my brain still works and I’ve never been a stodgy, skeptical old man. I guess you think these guys just jump out of the woodwork and propose ridiculous things for the fun of ruining their reputations? You don’t seem to be very realistic about how the world works. Sure, there’s a lot a hype and corruption in the world, but things usually don’t work the way you seem to think they do.

  3. Mostly hot air. The total absence of checkable facts on the mechanisms and economics of this ‘solution’ must make the reader extremely wary that it is probably just another hoax of which nothing more will be heard once the financiers have given backing.

  4. While this technology could well be just what the doctor ordered to keep us from reaching an irreversible tipping point on climate change given our political nearsightedness, it should both be and indefinitely remain a transition technology. It should NOT be used to postpone the transition, either.

    Why? Fossil fuels are precious resources that took hundreds of millions of years to form. We’re burning them all up at a rate that will completely eliminate them in the wink of an eye in terms of geological time. They have extremely valuable uses economically beyond simply burning them all up. How would we get along and what would we think if some past few little dingbat generations had burnt them all up before we were born? I don’t think our history would have very nice things to say about the goofballs who preceded us and just irresponsibly, wantonly burnt up such irreplaceable resources.

    Oh, but that’s OK, isn’t it? We’ll all be dead and gone by then, so we just might as well just go ahead and screw everyone who comes after us.

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