Carbon capture at its core is among the biggest and most complex chemical separations due to challenge of how to selectively remove what is best described as a kinetically and thermodynamically inert molecule (CO2) from dilute and complex gas mixtures. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has recently prioritized utilization of CO2 by recycling it into fuels and chemicals. While CO2 is abundant, the energy and capital costs associated with capturing, purifying and compressing it are not free. In this presentation, we describe an integrated approach that couples the capture and catalytic conversion of CO2 captured in carbon capture solvents with the aim of designing more energy and atom-efficient reactive separations to produce low-carbon fuels and chemicals such as methane or methanol with high atom and energy efficiency. This approach marginalizes the costs of disparate processes of capture and conversion by using the capture infrastructure, i.e. solvent for both processes. Further, this approach is far more efficient as it avoids the energetics with compression of CO2, and partially offsets the endothermicity of the release of CO2 from the capture solvent with the exothermicity of hydrogenating CO2 with hydrogen. We describe here, results from a multi-disciplinary research approach that assesses the coupling of a separation, and the subsequent conversion of CO2 that is captured in solution. We conclude with a discussion of the energetics and economics of CO2 capture and conversion in carbon capture solvents into low carbon fuels.

Reactive separations of CO2 with high atom and energy efficiency

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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