title: Fighting global warming by greenhouse gas removal: destroying atmospheric nitrous oxide thanks to synergies between two breakthrough technologies.
abstract: Even if humans stop discharging CO2 into the atmosphere, the average global temperature will still increase during this century. A lot of research has been devoted to prevent and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the atmosphere, in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is one of the technologies that might help to limit emissions. In complement, direct CO2 removal from the atmosphere has been proposed after the emissions have occurred. But, the removal of all the excess anthropogenic atmospheric CO2 will not be enough, due to the fact that CO2 outgases from the ocean as its solubility is dependent of its atmospheric partial pressure. Bringing back the Earth average surface temperature to pre-industrial levels would require the removal of all previously emitted CO2. Thus, the atmospheric removal of other greenhouse gases is necessary. This article proposes a combination of disrupting techniques to transform nitrous oxide (N2O), the third most important greenhouse gas (GHG) in terms of current radiative forcing, which is harmful for the ozone layer and possesses quite high global warming potential. Although several scientific publications cite "greenhouse gas removal," to our knowledge, it is the first time innovative solutions are proposed to effectively remove N2O or other GHGs from the atmosphere other than CO2.
authors.affiliation: School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, No. 122, Luoshi Road, Wuhan, 430070, China.
authors.forename: Tingzhen
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier - UMR5253 CNRS-UM2 - ENSCM-UM1 - Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier, 8 rue de l'Ecole Normale, 34296, Montpellier Cedex 5, France. renaud.derichter@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5669-2267
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Richter
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier - UMR5253 CNRS-UM2 - ENSCM-UM1 - Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier, 8 rue de l'Ecole Normale, 34296, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caillol
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D057965:Carbon Sequestration; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D057232:Global Warming; D017752:Greenhouse Effect / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D009609:Nitrous Oxide / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D009609:Nitrous Oxide
keywords: Cutting down atmospheric N2O concentration to protect the ozone layer and lessen global warming; Greenhouse gas removal; Negative emission technology; Photocatalytic reactor; Photocatalytic reduction; Solar chimney power plant