The Toronto Star reported earlier this month on an interesting new technology that promises cleaner burning natural gas with potentially valuable solid carbon as a by-product.

CarbonSavor is the trademarked name of this new technology privately developed by Atlantic Hydrogen Inc. It uses a "low temperature plasma reactor process" to separate hydrogen gas and solid carbon from the natural gas stream without releasing any carbon dioxide in the process. The gaseous hydrogen is then re-routed back into the natural gas line creating a hydrogen enriched mixture that is about 20% hydrogen gas.

America’s rich farmland was created by prairie plants, capturing carbon from the air and sinking it into the earth. Generally, the darker the soil, the more carbon it contains.