Local Houston area news channel KHOU 11 recently ran a great segment explaining the basics of Rice University's Carbon Hub and their efforts to make carbon materials and hydrogen from hydrocarbons. Instead of burning hydrocarbons for energy, creating pollution and carbon dioxide, we can split the hydrocarbons into carbon that can be used to make high-performance materials and hydrogen that can be used as a clean-burning fuel. As Rice University professor Matteo Pasquali puts it in the interview, this process could potentially be used to both build a car and power it.
These zero-emission uses for hydrocarbons are not limited to transportation. The carbon materials that might be produced this way include carbon nanotubes and graphene, and these can be processed using DexMat's technology and other material science techniques to replace textiles, metal wires, or traditional carbon fibers, becoming useful in industries such as biomedical engineering, resource manufacturing, aerospace, industrial goods, and electrical energy storage and distribution.
Check out the story here and video on KHOU 11 Youtube channel.
If you would like to learn more about Rice University's Carbon Hub, you can Take a look at the Carbon Hub youtube channel or the Carbon Hub website to learn a bit more about the state of carbon technology.