Advancing carbon capture technology

Research is progressing on a novel biphasic solvent absorption method that holds promise as an innovative, cost-saving alternative to the conventional CO2 capture process in power plants. ISTC researchers have been assisting the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) on a lab-scale (10KWe) project developing a biphasic CO2 absorption process (BiCAP) with multiple stages of liquid-liquid solvent phase separation, which improves CO2 absorption kinetics and increases the carbon capture capacity.

“And, more importantly,” explained Wei Zheng, senior research chemist at ISTC who is working on the project, “this new technology can also significantly reduce both the energy use and equipment cost for CO2 capture compared to the conventional amine-based process.”

The lab-scale research is being led by ISGS, supported by a grant from U.S Department of Energy (DOE).

Currently, the team has evaluated the corrosive properties of solvents on carbon and stainless steel, which are main materials used for CO2 absorbers and strippers. “Corrosion is not a concern,” said ISTC senior research engineer Brajendra Sharma. “We’re moving forward with the project and are on track with all our milestones.”

Now the research efforts are ready for the next step.  Recently U.S. DOE announced $3M of additional funding for ISGS and ISTC to conduct a three-year bench-scale (40KWe) study of their BiCAP technology.

The primary goal of this new project is to leverage the BiCAP process and validate its technical advantages through a fully-integrated bench-scale testing in a relevant flue gas environment. The proposed technology is aimed at achieving a CO2 capture cost of $30/tonne and >95% CO2 purity to meet DOE’s Transformational CO2 Capture goals.

Read more about the biphasic project on ISTC’s website.