Why can’t we simply burn all the non-renewable waste (such as single-use plastics, etc) and vent the gasses and particulate matter into holding containers to prevent their absorption into the environment?

Question

Is it a matter of the technology not existing? I understand it’s a grossly oversimplified model and I am neither an engineer nor a chemist, but I can’t imagine that we couldn’t simply set up a furnace that vents down a cooling pipe into a container or facility that captures the gasses and toxic particulate/waste for either further processing, reuse in industry, or just to stockpile.

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

> Is it a matter of the technology not existing?

It exists. Flume gases tend to be 14% CO2, so the process isn’t efficient. You wash it down with an amine solution, and then you can collect and heat that again to release the CO2. This process consumes 25% of a coal power plant’s energy production, and it likely won’t scale down well for a smaller scale energy producer like an incinerator. This process is undertaken primarily to produce commercial CO2 than it is to reduce emissions. Last year, we captured a mere 40m tonnes of CO2 through this process. In order to meet the 2 degree C target by 2050, we would have to increase capture by 2 orders of magnitude by 2025.

Side note, coal ash is used to make cement, and desulfurization is how we make gypsum for drywall and plaster. Now you know where that stuff comes from.

> I can’t imagine that we couldn’t simply set up a furnace that vents down a cooling pipe into a container or facility

Sequestration is one of the things we do. The CO2 captured above is released into a gaseous state, then cooled and compressed into a liquid. We pump it into shale oil fields 2-3km below the ground to push the oil out, leaving CO2 behind effectively forever. Just don’t pop that cork…

But there’s not enough incentive. Not enough money. And frankly, there are better technologies. Nuclear, for example, actually has an astounding safety track record, and coal releases a shit-ton more radioactive material than nuclear ever has. We need less FUD, more education, and more direct guidance from experts. But Big CO2 producers work against any initiative or legislation that costs them money or threatens to put them out of business. And given our system of government, they have the right to do so.