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Carbon Capture Engineer
Designs systems that capture CO₂ from the atmosphere or industrial emissions and store it permanently.
Did you know?
Iceland has a plant that turns captured CO₂ into stone underground — permanently removing it from the atmosphere
How subjects help
- Chemistry: Find materials that grab carbon dioxide from smoke or air and release it for storage.
- Engineering: Build the pipes, fans and filters that pull carbon dioxide from factory chimneys.
- Environmental Science: Check that stored carbon stays underground and that a project truly cuts pollution overall.
- Physics: Calculate the pressure needed to pump carbon dioxide deep into rock layers underground.
A famous name
Klaus Lackner: First to suggest capturing CO₂ directly from the air to fight climate change; now builds 'mechanical trees'.
Try it yourself: Build a layered water filter
- Set the funnel over the jar and line it with the coffee filter or kitchen paper.
- Add layers from the bottom up: cotton wool, then sand, then gravel on top.
- Pour the muddy water in slowly and watch what comes out. Compare it with a little muddy water you kept back. Never drink it, even if it looks clean: filtering does not kill germs.
- Change the order or thickness of the layers and try again. Which design gives the clearest water?
Chemical and environmental engineers design treatment works that push water through layers of gravel, sand and other materials to take out dirt before further cleaning.
Adapted from TeachEngineering (University of Colorado Boulder): The Dirty Water Project: Design-Build-Test Your Own Water Filters.
Also try: Clean an oily feather.
Known for it in
Iceland, Norway, USA, Canada, UK