Captured(捕获的)carbon dioxide(CO2) could be used to extract(提炼) useful metals(金属) -组卷网

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Captured(捕获的) carbon dioxide(CO2) could be used to extract(提炼) useful metals(金属) from recycled technology such as smartphone batteries rather than just being buried underground. The technique could help make it more economical to capture the greenhouse gas before it enters the atmosphere.

“If you also extract metals by filling CO2, you add value to a process that is known to be costly,” says Julien Leclaire at the University of Lyon, France.

CO2 is the main cause of modern climate change, so many people have attempted to develop technologies to capture it when it comes from power plants and other major sources. The gas can then be stored underground. The problem is that such carbon capture and storage (CCS) is expensive. “No one wants to pay the price for it,” says Leclaire.

To make CCS more appealing, Leclaire’s team has found a use for the gas.

His team collected CO2 from a car gas, cooled it, then pumped it into a mix of chemicals. The CO2 combined with the mix to make many molecules(分子) of various shapes and sizes.

The team found that this process could sort out mixtures of metals, because one metal would dissolve(溶解) in the liquid while another would form a solid. In a series of experiments, they successfully separated three kinds of metals-all of which are used in batteries, smartphones and computers.

If the process can be widely used, it could be a more environmentally friendly way to recycle batteries and other electrical equipment, says Leclaire. This is normally done using highly reactive chemicals, which are potentially polluting. Replacing them with CO2 should lead to a much lower environmental pollution, he says.

Other researchers and companies are trying to change captured CO2 into useful materials like plastics, which are normally produced from petrol, but this is chemically difficult. Leclaire says his approach is more in line with how CO2 behaves naturally. “Instead of copying what we know how to do better and cheaper with oil, let’s find things you can only do with CO2,” he says.

【小题1】What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．Extracting useful metals from recycled technology is widely used now.

B．Useful metals in the atmosphere are used to make smartphone batteries.

C．Abandoned smartphone batteries may have been buried underground before.

D．The greenhouse gas CO₂ could be cleaned up after entering the atmosphere.

【小题2】Why are many people attempting to capture CO₂?

A．CO₂ is the main cause of modern climate change.

B．CO₂ can be used to recycle many resources.

C．Captured CO2 can be changed to useful gas.

D．CO₂ is harmful to people’s health.

【小题3】What benefit could Leclaire’s team’s approach bring?

A．It could end the use of plastics.