I ran across this little blurb- and it piqued my interest. The largest carbon capture project in the UK plans to convert the carbon dioxide it captures into sodium bicarbonate. In particular, the goal is to use that sodium bicarbonate for use in dialysis, among other needs. That’s 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year (right now, the capture facility capacity is 36K tons). Amazingly, that means this would produce enough sodium bicarbonate to supply some 750K patients a year.
Of course, Church and Dwight (producers of Arm and Hammer Sodium Bicarbonate) might have something to say about that. After all, they are the largest US supplier of dialysate grade sodium bicarb. But, there is a large world-wide market for dialysis- and, unfortunately, it is growing.
Who’s making this carbon capture plant? Tata Chemicals Europe (a unit of Tata from India)- and it’s to be situated in Northwich (in NW England). This is a “demonstration project” funded by the UK (£4.2 million). The difference is that the captured carbon is not going to be stored, but immediately converted to liquid carbon dioxide for rapid conversion to sodium bicarbonate.
The issue is whether flue gas captured meets the rigid requirements for pharmaceutical grade sodium bicarbonate. Tata claims it does, but is also prepared to sell excess sodium bicarbonate to the food industry.
There is another issue that needs to be mentioned. This is really not a permanent capture of carbon dioxide; after all once it is included in dialysis, that means the discarded solution will be releasing this captured carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. In essence, it is an emissions decrease for the energy plant and a dispersal of carbon dioxide emissions over a wider geographical footprint. In other words, it really won’t be a major step in our battle for climate control.
And, as long as we are on the subject, we probably need to recognize the significant carbon footprint that dialysis treatment imposes on the world.
Drs. AR Sehgal (MetroHealth System, Cleveland), JE Slutzman (Mass General), and AN Huml (Cleveland Clinic) just published their findings in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. ( Sources of Variation in the Carbon Footprint of Hemodialysis Treatment)
The analysis includes not just the sodium bicarbonate that is used to treat patients, but the requirements for water purification and the transportation requirements to get patients to and from dialysis units. In a nutshell, their analysis claims that the annual emissions per hemodialysis facility is equivalent to that carbon output produced by 93 homes.
The study entailed the examination of 209481 dialysis treatments from 15 free-standing clinics in northeast Ohio in 2020. It was computed that 769374 kg of carbon dioxide equivalents were released. (That’s roughly 58.9 kg of carbon dioxide per treatment.) The problem is that there was significant variation in carbon footprints across dialysis units and treatments, which may make this analysis difficult to extend across the USA, let alone the world.
I had no idea sodium bicarbonate was used for dialysis.
I use it for cleaning pans and baking.
It would have been too good to be true you could actually reduce the overall CO2 output, but the way you describe it, it sound more like money laundering.
Either way, thanks for another interesting post. I learn so much from you!
Glad to oblige, Tamara.
I had no idea of what is required for dialysis. This is certainly a different slant on a medical procedure. A dear friend of mine passed away 3 years ago due to complications with his kidneys. The dialysis extended his life. I’m so grateful for that.
I agree! And even with the worldwide population on dialysis, the contributions to global warming for this segment are fairly miniscule. As such, I believe this was more of an academic exercise.
Oh Boy! So even something that is good and life-saving has an impact globally.
What si the solution? Fund more kidney research to help folks keep their kidneys healthier and functioning at capacity?
We certainly need to fund ways to keep folks off dialysis as long as we can. There are some promising ideas- but they don’t fit the conventional healthcare reimbursement models, so they are languishing on the sidelines, Paul.
Sounds like a win for dialysis until it get’s realized in the atmosphere. At least their working on an idea.
I think this is an academic exercise that is overwrought. But, it was still intriguing, Martha.