(70i) Resin Wafer Electrodeionization for Flue Gas Carbon Dioxide Capture

Energy
efficient capture of CO₂ from coal-fired power plants is one of the
grand challenges for the U.S. both to end dependence on imported energy and to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.  Nalco Company and Argonne National Laboratory
received a Department of Energy ARPA-E award to develop Resin Wafer Electrodeionization (RW-EDI) for the energy-efficient
capture of CO₂ from coal flue gas.  RW-EDI is being used as an
electrochemically-driven platform that switches pH in the process stream to
efficiently capture CO₂ from flue gas and then desorb it at
atmospheric pressure without requiring heating, vacuum, or consumptive chemical
usage.  The acid/base pH shift drives the CO₂
capture/desorption and enzymes and/or inorganic catalysts drive the targeted
kinetics.  The goal of the project is to demonstrate 90% capture of CO₂
from synthetic flue gas (15% CO₂) and 90% purity of the released
stream of CO₂.  If successful, the CO2 capture process could
significantly reduce the ~30 % parasitic energy loss associated with other
capture technologies.  Presented here will be recent results from a
bench-scale system showing significant progress toward these goals.