This material found in cat litter could help reduce atmospheric methane emissions

This material found in cat litter could help reduce atmospheric methane emissions

Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Researchers at MIT have come up with a promising approach to controlling methane emissions and removing it from the air.

The technique uses an inexpensive and abundant type of clay called zeolite.

The material is so inexpensive that it is currently used to make cat litter.



Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and it has a pronounced effect within first two decades of its presence in the atmosphere. In the recent international climate negotiations in Glasgow, abatement of methane emissions was identified as a major priority in attempts to curb global climate change quickly.

Now, a team of researchers at MIT has come up with a promising approach to controlling methane emissions and removing it from the air, using an inexpensive and abundant type of clay called zeolite. The findings are described in the journal ACS Environment Au, in a paper by doctoral student Rebecca Brenneis, Associate Professor Desiree Plata, and two others.

Although many people associate atmospheric methane with drilling and fracking for oil and natural gas, those sources only account for about 18 percent of global methane emissions, Plata says. The vast