A Potential Solution to the Methane Problem
Science for the Public: Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
March 29, 2022 (11AM) Belmont Media Center
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Desiree Plata, Ph.D., Gilbert W. Winslow (1937) Career Development Professor in Civil Engineering; Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT. Plata Lab
Methane is a greenhouse gas that is released from melting permafrost, as well as from farms, mines and fossil fuel drilling. For climate scientists, the increasing emissions are a major concern, and the 2021 COP26 emphasized the need to reduce atmospheric methane quickly. But methane reduction is a serious challenge.
Recently, an potential solution was developed in Professor Desiree Plata’s lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this discussion, Dr. Plata explains the serious challenge of methane emissions and the ingenious solution created in her lab: the use of zeolite clays, which are abundant and inexpensive. This innovation is still in development, but is receiving a lot of attention.