Mineral-rich sea water or salt water is sprayed into the smoke. As a result, the cement was formed.
As a student in marine biology in the 1980s, Brent Constantz was surprised to find how easy it is to change the rock mass using only sea water. How, they combine calcium and bicarbonate in sea water into calcium carbonate which crystallizes and then a durable exoskeleton.
Constantz then spent the next two decades to figure out how how to apply a similar trick on the human bones. Finally, after registering 60 patents and founded two companies, now the artificial bone is used throughout the world.
Nevertheless, he did not stop thinking about rocks. Finally, in 2007 he got the idea to create another type of cement that can be used to construct the building.
Just like coral, cement from limestone also crystallized in water. If given additional mixtures such as sand or gravel, it will be a concrete mixture of cheap but durable.
The problem, the manufacture of cement requires heating limestone up to 1400 degrees Celsius. This causes the limestone remove carbon dioxide. The result, according to U.S. Department of Energy, cement factory has become the largest source of emissions of carbon dioxide out of fossil fuel consumption.
Ironically, demand for cement is now increasing, especially in countries with new economic powers. For example, in China, per year, about 15 million people have migrated from rural to urban, and various development projects continue to follow the migration rate.
Constantz see opportunities that cement manufacturers, to imitate the trick now, to meet market demand while reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. In addition, they also can absorb the raw material of the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter, namely power generation.
In 2009, the latest company Constantz, Calera, began to apply this theory directly on a power generation 1,000-megawatt power in Moss Landing, California.
Engineers who were there to spray mineral-rich sea water or salt water into the exhaust gas is captured from power plant smokestacks that. Calcium binding in water is the source of carbon pollution and to form cement.
Constantz says he made a pilot plant capable of producing up to 1,100 tons of cement per day by utilizing 550 tons of carbon dioxide.
"All inspired by sea creatures for at least 600 million last year have absorbed carbon dioxide in their framework, which has been compacted from time to time to form limestone," says Constantz, as reported by PopSci on January 10, 2010.
In fact, said Constantz, limestone and it has been heated to make cement. So, he concludes, "Instead of turning stones into carbon dioxide, let us convert carbon dioxide into rock."
