The team at Manchester Metropolitan University found that a silica-based solution – extracted from fluid used to generate renewable geothermal electricity in New Zealand – could be re-purposed as a catalyst that turns toxic pollutants into less harmful compounds.
Such catalysts are most commonly found in motor engines where they convert carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide in the exhaust gases.
The silica could be used to replace the ‘much higher carbon footprint of industrially made products’ with one that is naturally produced from a renewable source.
The waste material came from a New Zealand company, Geo40 Ltd, which has developed a world first technology for extracting the silica and further processing it into green alternatives to conventional industrial products.
The waste material came from a New Zealand company, Geo40 Ltd, which has developed a world first technology for extracting the silica and further processing it into green alternatives to conventional industrial products.