Apr 22, 2015 06:01 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

In this new digital age, most consumers download and stream their movies and music, making CDs and DVDS more or less obsolete.

However, researchers found that these discarded discs, which will eventually end up in landfills or be recycled, could take on a different role: curbing the release of greenhouse gases. They found a way to turn the discs into a material that can capture carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas, and other compounds.

Researcher Mietek Jaroniec and colleagues from Poland and the United States note that manufacturers typically use natural sources, such as coal and wood, to make activated carbon.

They then incorporate this material into a wide range of applications from decaffeination to gas purification. More recently, scientists have been preparing activated carbon out of everyday plastic products. Jaroniec's team wanted to try this with optical discs, a fast-growing part of our waste stream.

Disc fragments were processed into two kinds of activated carbon with high surface areas and large volumes of fine pore. These key characteristics allowed the materials to capture carbon dioxide. They also adsorbed hydrogen gas and benzene, a carcinogenic compound used in industrial processes.

In addition to carbon capture applications, their materials could be used to separate volatile organic compounds and store hydrogen, according to researchers.

The findings are detailed in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

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