DETROIT – In a new study, a team of engineers lay out plans for train cars that can filter nearly 25 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air for every mile they travel. The idea is manifested in CO2Rail, a U.S.-based start-up founded by one of the study’s authors.
The concept rests on a braking method more typically found in EVs like Teslas called regenerative braking and controversial carbon-capture technology — the novel idea that carbon dioxide can be extracted from the environment and stored or reused.It would use existing rail infrastructure— passenger trains and freight alike — and retrofit the cars with vacuums and storage units to turn them into mobile carbon sinks.The use of existing rail infrastructure, as well as regenerative braking energy, are innovative ideas for direct air carbon capture, says Ajay Gambhir. He researches low-carbon technologies at Imperial College London and was not involved in the recent study.To read more, click on Inverse
