Water powder

It is a substance absolutely unusual, but with potential to be almost as useful as it sister wetter.
The water powder or "dry water", could be used to absorb and store carbon dioxide (CO2), greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Water powder uses:

- The bright dust, similar to sugar, also looks promising for a number of other uses. For example, in green chemistry, as a more environmentally friendly component to accelerate the chemical reactions used to manufacture many products.

- The manufacturing technique of water powder may also be used to package and transport hazardous industrial liquids that pollute the environment and cause major disruption when accidents happen with cars and trucks that transport them.

"There's nothing like it," said Ben Carter, University of Liverpool, England, as introducing water powder during the meeting of the American Society of Chemistry. "But we hope to see the dry water making big waves in the future."

What is dry water?

Carter explained that the substance is known as “dry water” because it consists of 95 % of water, and yet it is a dry powder.
Each particle of dust contains a drop of water surrounded by silica - silica, or silicon oxide is the main component of beach sand. The silica coating prevents water droplets to combine and re-form a liquid.
The result is a fine powder, with properties that make it capable of absorbing large quantities of gases which combine chemically with water molecules to form what chemists call a hydrate.

Strange as it may seem, water dry or water powder, is not something new. It was created in laboratory in 1968, but the difficulty of manufacture kept it confined to a scientific curiosity. In 2006, scientists at the University of Hull, also in the UK, decided to study its structure.

Since then, the group of Professor Andrew Cooper, of which Carter makes part, has been devoted to improving manufacturing techniques of dry water and find industrial uses for it.

Methane and green chemistry. 

One of the most promising uses involves the use of water as a dry material storage of gases, including carbon dioxide. In laboratory scale, the researchers found that the dry water absorbs more than three times more carbon dioxide than ordinary water with silica.
This ability to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide in the form of a hydrate can make the powder of water handy to help reduce global warming, scientists suggest.
The water is also useful for dry storage of methane, a component of natural gas, which help expand its use as an energy source in the future. Scientists forecast the possibility of using the powder to collect and transport natural gas deposits economically viable.
This methane hydrate exists naturally in the deep ocean, in a form of frozen methane known as "ice that burns".
The water powder can also provide a safer and more convenient to store the methane for use as fuel in cars.
Scientists are now looking for business partners and academics to develop the technology of dry water, and finally make it to the market.

source: http://web.1.c2.audiovideoweb.com/1c2web3536/boston2010/10-109f_drywater.htm