Atmospheric CO2 Capture and Membrane Delivery (Final Report)
- Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States); Arizona State University
- Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
- Dept. of Energy (DOE), Washington DC (United States). Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Motivation: A major bottleneck for growing microalgae as a sustainable alternative to fossil carbon in economically producing fuels and chemical products is the cost of delivering CO2 in sufficient concentrations for it not to limit growth. This project sought to develop and integrate two innovative technologies for capturing and concentrating CO2 from air and delivering it to microalgae with high efficiency into an Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment and Delivery (ACED) system. The CO2 capture technology is based on moisture swing sorption (MSS), where specialized resin materials selectively capture CO2 when dry and release it when wet into a confined space where the concentration can be increased up to 500-fold. The CO2-delivery technology is based on membrane carbonation (MC), which uses hollow fiber membranes that allow CO2 to diffuse into the algae-containing liquid without forming bubbles, achieving nearly 100% delivery efficiency. Work completed: 1. Subsystem design, construction, and characterization [Months 1-6]. ACED integration requirements were defined; prototype MSS and MC sub-systems were constructed to conform to these requirements and characterized independently. 2. Subsystem optimization and evaluation [Months 7-12]. An iterative process of operating and upgrading each subsystem at lab scale, leading to compatibility at full integration. 3. System Integration with open raceway, testing, and modeling [Months 13-24]. Operation and testing of the integrated ACED system in an open raceway pond and modeling. Broader impacts: The ACED research program added to our understanding of 1) MC technology’s (i.e., hollow fiber membranes) utility for transferring pure CO2 and CO2 gas mixtures into microlagal cultures in laboratory and outdoor environments, 2) the first-of-a-kind MSS technology to capture CO2 from ambient outdoor air, and 3) methods for storing captured CO2 in carbonate/bicarbonate brines from which the CO2 can be retrieved at high concentration (> 90%). Near-term commercial opportunities were outlined for the MC technology for small scale algae cultivation with high CO2 costs (> $100/ton) and larger scale operators with continued development. This will help reduce costs for producing sustainable fuels and products and reduce cost for microalgal research for developing new applications. Research areas were identified for MSS technology to achieve cost competitive CO2 produced from ambient air ($100/ton) as a means for closing the carbon cycle to make products from atmospheric CO2 instead of fossil fuels and remove CO2 from air to mitigate climate change.
- Research Organization:
- Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Bioenergy Technologies Office (EE-3B)
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0007093
- OSTI ID:
- 1509489
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-ASU--0007093
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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