One of the main solutions for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is carbon capture and storage. Carbon capture technologies, although abundant, are very costly and therefore their application is limited. This research introduces a novel technique for carbon capture that is extremely low in cost and applicable at atmospheric conditions with no pressurization requirements. This method is designed based on the utilization of waste material for sustainability and reduction in environmental impact.
The selection of the material was the first step into determining the CO2 storage potential. The material selected was a fly ash produced as a byproduct of clinker manufacturing. The fly ash was then used in three different shapes including powder, cube, and hemi-spherical shape. Following this, the CO2 storage capacity was quantified based on the CO2 adsorption to the material. The experiments were run to determine both the adsorption and desorption hysteresis curve. All experiments were conducted at ambient conditions for proof of concept.
The shape was one of the most significant findings in this project as changing the shape and size of the fly ash resulted in a significant alteration of the adsorption capacity. The hemi-spherical fly ash mold were found to have a 22% increase in CO2 capture compared to the cubical shape. Also, it was found that a considerable volume of CO2 could be captured in a 50kg contained occupied by the fly ash at ambient conditions. The capture percentage was approximately 40-60% of the injected air. Other molecules were also found to be adsorbed at ambient conditions, most notably oxygen and carbon monoxide. Altering the temperature altered the adsorption capacity slightly for all three fluids. It was found that to desorb the CO2 faster, a slight increase in temperature (5 C) could be conducted. This resulted in an increase in desperation rate by 33%. All in all, the newly designed method has a huge potential for CO2 capture. The cycles of adsorption and desorption had no significant impact on the fly ash itself which indicated that it does not need to be replaced.
This research introduces a small working model for a new design that can assist in carbon capture at ambient conditions. The design utilizes fly ash which is a waste material that is extremely low in cost. This results in an overall extremely low cost carbon capture alternative that can assist in reduction of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.