Carbon capture has been deemed a ground-breaking technology for cleaning the air, however, a research team at Rice University in Texas wanted to reinvent this technology in a way that isn’t so costly and doesn’t produce emissions.

Dr. Dr. Zhu Peng, a co-researcher on the project, says he and the team did just that, with the help of the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan.

Their new method of carbon capture uses an electric current to generate a chemical change in an oxygen reduction chamber, creating an alkaline environment which captures carbon. The USask Canadian Light Source was used to confirm the atoms were isolated and not clustering together.

Peng says it is relatively inexpensive, and could be available to use in industry, household, and small business use. He estimates that the cost to capture carbon will be about $83 a ton, compared to today’s costs which range from $125-$600 US. The only chemical input the process requires is water, and no biproducts are produced.

After the carbon is collected, he says it can be stored underground or converted into valuable products, such as alcohols.