Scientists from ExxonMobil, University of California, Berkeley  and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered a new material that could capture more than 90 percent of carbondioxide emissions from industrial sources. It would help naturalgas fired power plants and other industries meet increasingly stringent carbon emissions rules.

The patent-pending materials, known as tetraamine-functionalized metal organic frameworks, capture carbon dioxide emissions up to six times more effectively than conventional amine-based carbon capture technology. The technology uses low-temperature steam, requiring less energy for the overall carbon capture process.

Needing less energy to capture, remove, and sequester (or store) can bring down the cost quite a bit.

Their innovative carbon capture method remains stable in the presence of water vapor, without oxidation, allowing carbon dioxide to be captured from various sources, under a number of conditions

The ability to manipulate the structure of metal organs framework materials has allowed the team to condense a surface area the size of a football field into just one gram of mass. It then becomes a sponge for capturing carbon emissions.