Background Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics are some of the most widely used, yet one of the largest plastic polluters globally. PET polymer is the primary component of disposable water bottles, and is a main component in the textile manufacturing industry. These products typically end up in waste dumps and landfills, and are seldom recycled. There...

Background Access to clean water resources has accelerated research in the direction of membrane-based separation processes, like reverse osmosis (RO), that are often perplexed by acute saline feeds and pervasive membrane fouling. The properties of the polymeric membranes deployed in these operations play a critical role in understanding their degradation...

­Background Removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by direct air capture (DAC) can be accomplished using two chief approaches, liquid and solid. Liquid systems pass air through chemical solutions containing basic ions (e.g., hydroxide ions or bicarbonate ions), heat the resulting mixture to release the captured CO2, and then reuse the...

­Background Direct air capture (DAC) is a process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from air. The CO2 can be captured when the air contacts a chemical medium or functionalized sorbent, and then removed from the chemical medium or functionalized sorbent to yield a CO2 stream. Invention Description Researchers at Arizona State University...