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Thanks. Garcia Oliver. Plants absorb CO 2, of course, but they take up a lot of room and are slow, inefficient CO 2 absorbers. 2 scrubbers use chemicals that don't meet your criteria. Monoethanolamine (MEA) is used to scrub carbon dioxide from gas streams, but it's corrosive and toxic in very small amounts.hanks. Garcia Oliver. Plants absorb CO 2, of course, but they take up a lot of room and are slow, inefficient CO 2 absorbers. 2 scrubbers use chemicals that don't meet your criteria. Monoethanolamine (MEA) is used to scrub carbon dioxide from gas streams, but it's corrosive and toxic in very small amounts.
(Illustration adapted from P.J. Sellers et al., 1992.). Plants and phytoplankton are the main components of the fast carbon cycle. Phytoplankton (microscopic organisms in the ocean) and plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by absorbing it into their cells. Using energy from the Sun, both plants and plankton combine carbon dioxide (CO 2) and water to form sugar (CH 2 O) and oxygen.