14 DAY TRIAL // 'Dry water' is a substance that looks like powdered sugar and new research shows that it might just be the new way of absorbing and storing carbon dioxide.
The substance was discovered in 1968 and scientists thought of ways of using it in the cosmetics industry.
Then, in 2006, it was rediscovered by scientists at the University of Hull, UK, and since then, Professor Andrew Cooper and his group at the University of Liverpool have studied it and extended its area of possible applications.
Ben Carter, PhD and researcher for study leader professor Cooper, said “There's nothing else quite like it, [and] hopefully, we may see 'dry water' making waves in the future.”
The reason for which it is called 'dry water' is that 95 percent of it is water and still it looks like a dry powder.
The explanation is simple, and it's pure chemistry: every particle of powder contains a water droplet surrounded by modified silica, which prevents the water droplets from mixing and turning back into liquid.
This fine powder can absorb gases, that can form a hydrate once they are combined with the water molecules.
In his laboratory, Cooper and his co-workers found that 'dry water' absorbs three times as much carbon dioxide than uncombined water and silica, in the same laps of time.
This could be the first step towards absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide gas as a hydrate and help reduce global warming, said the scientists.
Besides cosmetic use and carbon dioxide storage, the powder may be used as a more energy-efficient way of creating chemical reactions that help make hundreds of consumer products, and it could also be the safest way of storing and transporting potentially harmful industrial materials.
Furthermore, previous studies showed that 'dry water' can be useful for storing methane thus helping enlarge its use as a future energy source.
Engineers might be able to use the powder to collect and transport natural gas deposits that also exist on the ocean floor in the form of gas hydrates, a form of frozen methane also called the “ice that burns”.
'Dry water' could make storing methane fuel for use in vehicles powered by natural gas safer and more convenient, but “a great deal of work remains to be done before we could reach that stage,” says Carter.
This powder is so amazing as it has multiple use, like speeding up catalyzed reactions between hydrogen gas and maleic acid to produce succinic acid, a feedstock or raw material widely used to make drugs, food ingredients, and other consumer products.
The producers normally have to stir theses substances in order for them to react, but by developing 'dry water' particles that contain maleic acid, the researchers have proven that they could speed up the reaction between the acid and the hydrogen without any stirring, which is a greener, more energy-efficient process.
Carter said that “If you can remove the need to stir your reactions, then potentially you're making considerable energy savings.”
Finally, this powder shows promises for storing liquids, and especially emulsions, mixtures of two or more unblendable liquids (like oil and water in mayo).
The researchers managed to transform a simple emulsion into a dry powder, similar to 'dry water' and this could ease and make much safer the storage and transportation of dangerous liquids.
The team looks for commercial or academic collaboration to continue working od the 'dry water' technology.
This study was funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Center for Materials Discovery, and its results were presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.