New research findings show that cleaning carbon dioxide from the planet's atmosphere can actually be accomplished by using a special compound to trap CO2.

Scientists from Rice University in Houston, Texas claim they've successfully developed a chemical compound that uses a petroleum-based asphalt to capture carbon dioxide and further prevent the gas from escaping and increasing pollution.

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This carbon capture breakthrough is a certain type of compound powder that can hold 114 percent of its own weight in carbon dioxide.

This new carbon capture compound is called the "asphalt-porous carbon" or A-PC. It's a powder able to capture carbon dioxide and maintain the gas under pressure. The compound releases CO2 again when the pressure is lifted.

It works by capturing carbon dioxide and holding it off before being piped back to storage or it could also be used again and repurposed. The CO2 can simply be pumped down the well where it came from.

All of these are better options than just releasing CO2 into the open air. According to chemist James Tour from Rice University, this breakthrough compound is ultra inexpensive to produce.

The research team is continuing to fix and tweak the compound to attain an even higher rate of carbon dioxide capture but already claim A-PC is the best carbon capture option available for use to date.

These findings were published in the journal, Applied Materials and Interfaces.

TagsScientists Use Cheap Asphalt for Breakthrough Carbon Emissions Capture, carbon capture, rice university, cheap asphalt carbon capture