Page 19 - 3D Metal Printing magazine Fall 2022

FEATURE
3D
AM Ideal for Battling Climate Change
Additive manufacturing capabilities offer an effective approach in implementing systems and components for carbon capture and processing.
BY SCOTT GREEN and MATT ATWOOD
Now more than two decades into the 21st century, the importance of combatting climate change is accelerating. The Paris Agreement—2050 has highlighted the need for steep emis- sions cuts within the decade to keep global
Scott Green is principal solutions leader at 3D Systems, www.3dsystems.com, and Matt Atwood is founder and CEO of Air- Capture, www.aircapture.com.
warming to no more than 1.5 C and safe- guard a livable climate, as outlined by the United Nations Net-Zero Coalition. To accomplish this, we see heavy industrial manufacturers quickly and heavily invest- ing in new operations while tech startups create novel solutions. Still, global emis- sions targets remain unmet.
Some relatively simple chemical reac- tions lie at the heart of carbon capture. Any system for carbon capture and recla- mation must operate at extreme efficiency to ensure that it does not add to the prob- lem by consuming carbon-heavy fuels or emitting more carbon into the atmos- phere. In other words, we must capture as much carbon as possible while using significantly less carbon than we capture to produce the reaction. Ideally, the goal is zero carbon input for unlimited carbon reclaimed as output.
Solving the problem requires carbon- negative infrastructure. Direct air capture (DAC) represents the most efficient, effec-
tive and scalable method to help lower CO2 emissions. DAC enables the separa- tion of CO2 from air to create the products an economy requires—agricultural prod- ucts, building materials, fuels, plastics and chemicals. DAC also enables seques- tration—the ability to store CO2 for con- structive purposes.
How AM Can Help
Removing carbon from the atmosphere requires a system of filters, heat exchang- ers, condensers, gas separators and com- pressors. Many of these complex products require geometries well-suited to additive manufacturing (AM), which can prove more efficient and potentially more cost- effective than traditional fabrication meth- ods while delivering substantial perform- ance and economic benefits in DAC equipment.
Some of these benefits:
• Design optimization for energy effi- ciency—When we direct the design-opti-
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