High-Surface-Area CO2 Sponge: High Performance CO2 Scrubbing Based on Hollow Fiber-Supported Designer Ionic Liquid Sponges

Program Document · Wed Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2010

OSTI ID:1046678

IMPACCT Project: The team from ORNL and Georgia Tech is developing a new technology that will act like a sponge, integrating a new, alcohol-based ionic liquid into hollow fibers (magnified image, right) to capture CO2 from the exhaust produced by coal-fired power plants. Ionic liquids, or salts that exist in liquid form, are promising materials for carbon capture and storage, but their tendency to thicken when combined with CO2 limits their efficiency and poses a challenge for their development as a cost-effective alternative to current-generation solutions. Adding alcohol to the mix limits this tendency to thicken in the presence of CO2 but can also make the liquid more likely to evaporate, which would add significantly to the cost of CO2 capture. To solve this problem, ORNL is developing new classes of ionic liquids with high capacity for absorbing CO2. ORNL’s sponge would reduce the cost associated with the energy that would need to be diverted from power plants to capture CO2 and release it for storage.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
• OSTI ID: 1046678
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ARPA-E
Carbon Capture
IMPACCT
Innovative Materials and Processes for Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies