Fire and the Battle Against CO2

Remember when we went outside our eyes would burn from all the ashes in the air or even the smell of charcoal. This was a massive wildfire, and it was only one of the few thousand wildfires. These are just the minor things we are noticing, not even the bigger picture. Wildfires account for over 25% of our entire global emissions and we aren’t doing much about it.

After diving into the problem I found a science fair project made by Asher Christiansen. He made a small-scale simulation demonstrating how CO2 removal from a fireplace would work. This would give me an idea of how to solve the problem so, I replicated it digitally to give me a better understanding of how it worked.

Understanding

This is the simplified diagram and concept used in Asher’s project.

A lot of CO2 is trapped at the top of the fire. This is the easiest to capture. Once it is captured it is moved to a CO2-rich chamber, where it is pumped into a glass of water where the excess gasses are being released, only storing the CO2. Due to the CO2 being hot it is moved into a second chamber and cycled until it is cooled down.

Real-Life Application and Overall Thoughts

While following through with the project I began to wonder about how cost-effective and effective this solution would be. The idea is perfect for a fireplace mantle as the fire can easily be trapped. When looking to solve the problem of wildfires there would be several problems such as trapping the fire, making a chamber to convert the fire and the amount of time it would take. With enough development and an increase in efficiency, this solution could easily reduce the 200, 000 cubic feet of CO2 released every year from fireplaces alone.