The mechanical tree that cleans up CO2 on display in the UK for the first time

By Evangeline Modell

A prototype mechanical tree, which sucks carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere 1,000 times faster than a natural tree, is on display at the London Science Museum. Our Future Planet is the first major exhibition in the UK about carbon capture and storage.

Entrance of the Our Future Planet Exhibition. Credit: The Scientific Museum

The inventor of the trees, Klaus Lackner, is director of Arizona State University’s Centre for Negative Carbon Emissions. When his machine is extended, discs of sorbent stacked in columns capture CO2 passively from air blown through the system by wind. When full, the discs are lowered into water which helps to separate the CO2 into a ‘carbonater’ where it is stored safely. Unlike its natural counterpart, it also works at night. A cluster of 12 trees could remove one tonne of CO2 per day.

Exhibition visitors can see how stored carbon can be re-used in industries like synthetic fuels, agriculture or even to make toothpaste and vodka.

The machine on display is one of the world’s first mechanical trees and will be part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Entrance of the Our Future Planet Exhibition. Credit: The Scientific Museum

The exhibition is part of the Science Museum group’s focus on climate action in the lead up to COP26, the 26th United Nations Convention on Climate Change that takes place on 1 November in Glasgow.

Alongside Lackner, environmental experts like Woodland Trust conservationists and the creators of Climeworks Direct Air Capture machine from Switzerland have contributed.

Our Future Planet is free and is open from 31 March 2021 to 4 September 2022.

Climeworks direct air capture machines. Credit: The Science Museum