Vanessa Diaz

Nick Lloyd
Chase McAndrew
Lucy Mogan

CARbon Capture Decision Matrix

Concepts:
1. Bacteria carbon dioxide filter with a chiffon particle filter
2. Metal Organic Framework film with a metal mesh particle filter
3. Mesh material with potassium hydroxide and nylon particle filter

Evaluation Criteria Weight Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3

Value W × Val. Value W × Val. Value W × Val.

Captures Carbon Dioxide 0.20 7 1.4 8 1.6 6 1.2

Filters Particulate Matter 0.15 6 0.9 8 1.2 8 1.2

Quiets Sound 0.10 8 0.8 6 0.6 7 0.7

Cheap 0.20 6 1.2 3 0.6 6 1.2

Easy to Manufacture 0.15 6 0.9 5 0.9 7 1.05

Durability 0.20 6 1.2 8 1.6 6 1.2

Total 1 6.4 6.5 6.55

Thinking Process:

Concept #1 -
This concept includes bacteria as the carbon capturing filter with a chiffon cloth particle
filter. The bacteria is modified and forced to run off of carbon dioxide instead of glucose. The
cloth chiffon is a porous and durable material that will capture most of the particulate matter
when layered. The muffler for this design is shaped as a cylinder and is very cheap to
manufacture. All the materials that are used are low cost and will be very easy to put together.
The outside is made of stainless steel which is very durable and will hold up in many different
situations. It also is the same material that is used for exhaust pipes so it will blend into the car.

Concept #2 -
The external Metal Organic Framework Film, while being excellent at capturing CO2 and
particulates, has too many down sides. Firstly, the MOF is extremely expensive and hard to
produce. Secondly, it would be awkward to mount onto the car as it is heavy and cumbersome,
negating the ability to add a muffler. Lastly, it would be a large target for thieves, as catalytic
converters are already stolen in large numbers. On the other hand it would work very well and
hold up to all different conditions.

Concept #3 -
This designed concept has a potassium hydroxide solution to capture carbon and would
filter out solid particles with nylon cloth. The downside to this design is that it uses adjustable
magnets to clip on which is rather expensive and an important factor to this is cheapness of
product. It uses stainless steel which is sturdy and baffles at a sharp angle to quiet the noise of
the car.

Final Decision:
All the totals that added up were very close. The two highest ones were concept 2 and
concept 3. Concept 2 will capture a lot of carbon dioxide but will be very expensive to
manufacture and sell. As a team we have ruled this idea out because we want to make our
product as affordable as possible. Concept 1 will be easy to manufacture but cultivating the right
kind of bacteria could be expensive. On the other hand, the bacteria would also be surrounded
with lots of other toxic gases that could possibly affect their abilities to capture carbon dioxide.
Concept 3 is the easiest to manufacture but might not capture as much carbon dioxide as we
would hope. The potassium hydroxide won’t be very concentrated.
The rest of the product will be made from stainless steel to hold up and blend into the
car. The particle filter is going to be made from a layered nylon to catch all the solid material.
The muffler part will be inside the whole system with a few baffles on the end from the first
design. Lastly it will be connected with a stainless steel sleeve and clamp on the end of the
product to keep it from coming off of the car.