Project: Stimulus-responsive Structure Fluids for Dynamic Mediation of Carbon Dioxide Separation

Research Team: Fritz Simeon, Renu Ravindranath, Mike Stern, Howard Herzog and T. Alan Hatton

Sponsors: Siemens Power Generation Inc.

Summary:
Carbon dioxide produced from post-combustion processes in a coal- fired power plant is traditionally separated using chemical absorption with an amine-based solvent such as monoethanolamine.  The gas is separated from flue gas through a continuous scrubbing system consisting of two units, an absorber and a desorber.  In the absorber unit, carbon dioxide undergoes a spontaneous exothermic reaction with amine groups to generate stable bicarbonate and carbamate molecules.  While in the desorber unit, the reaction products are broken down by the application of heat, regenerating the solvent and producing a concentrated carbon dioxide stream.  The substantial amount of energy required for solvent regeneration is identified as the main energy penalty on the coal power plant, about 30 percents of total required for carbon dioxide capture unit.  To overcome this problem, new technologies to carbon dioxide separation from flue gas have to be developed.  Our laboratory currently develops and investigates a novel energy efficient dynamic separation technology for selected gas removal and recovery from a mixture based on stimulus-responsive structured fluids.  The basis for this new technology is the significant changes in molecular arrangement of a structured fluid that can be induced when small external stimuli are applied.  The structure change alters dramatically the carbon dioxide sorption capacity and thereby facilitates capture and regeneration of carbon dioxide from flue gas.

Publications:
None to-date.