Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello, I was wondering if it is realistic to apply the concept of a dialysis machine and repurpose it for filtering out carbon dioxide in oceanwater.

aarushsantoshi wrote:Hello, I was wondering if it is realistic to apply the concept of a dialysis machine and repurpose it for filtering out carbon dioxide in oceanwater.

Hi aarushsantoshi,

While this is a really creative concept, a dialysis machine is able to filter waste from the blood by using a thin membrane, which allows small waste particles to filter through while containing the important cells/proteins/other particles. I'm not sure if there is a type of membrane utilized by dialysis machines to filter a gas such as carbon dioxide. For more information on hemodialysis, click here: https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/hemodialysis

There are materials created via nanotechnology to capture gases like CO2; however, this is gas removal from another gas: http://www.engineerlive.com/content/19942

To sum up my answer, for now, there isn't a way to apply the concept of a dialysis machine to the concept of filtering out a gas from water.

Hope this helped (and don't be afraid to ask any more questions!),

JSK

I think you're referring to a paratneam hemodialysis system. Would a hemodialysis machine work?