Tech

An integrated, pure-sound system that captures carbon and produces ethylene


An integrated, pure-sound system that captures carbon and produces ethylene

UIC graduate student Rohan Sartape in the lab of Assistant Professor Meenesh Singh, in the chemical engineering department. Credit: Jim Young/UIC Engineering

Engineers at the University of Illinois Chicago have built a machine that captures carbon from emissions and converts it into ethylene.

One integrated device carbon capture the conditions ®types ®types of ethylene collected by the collection. What’s more, the system not only runs on electricity, but also removes more carbon from the environment than it produces—making this system what scientists call a net negative for carbon emissions.

Among chemicals produced worldwide, ethylene ranks third in terms of carbon emissions after ammonia and cement. Ethylene is not only used to make plastic products for the packaging, agricultural and automotive industries, but also to produce chemicals used in antifreeze, medical disinfectants, and vinyl sheets for homes in for example.

System and experimental results of scientists from UIC Technical University are published in a Energy & Environmental Science Paper titled “Fully Integrated Electrochemical System for CO Capture2 from Emissions to Value-Added Chemical Production at Environmental Conditions.”

“This is the first demonstration of an integrated all-electric, all-electric system to capture carbon from pollutants and create a resource of high value.

“There is an urgent need to develop efficient technologies for integrated carbon capture and conversion in order to produce a sustainable net negative fuel. Currently, integrated carbon capture and conversion systems are in place. Combinations are very energy intensive and operate in a discontinuous cycle carbon dioxide capture and reduce. The efficient integration of carbon capture with the conversion system eliminates the need for transport and storage, thereby increasing energy efficiency.”

The integrated carbon capture and conversion system developed at UIC continuously captures carbon dioxide from the exhaust gas to produce high purity ethylene.

“This is a major milestone in ethylene decarbonisation,” said Singh.

An integrated, pure-sound system that captures carbon and produces ethylene

Diagram of an integrated system with CO gradient moisture support migration2 CO capture and electrification2 reduction reaction. Credit: Meenesh Singh, et al.

To capture carbon from the air or emissions, Singh’s lab modified a standard artificial leaf system with inexpensive materials to include a water gradient—a dry side and a wet side—through an electrically charged membrane.

On the dry side, an organic solvent attached to carbon dioxide is available to create a concentration of bicarbonate, or baking soda, on the membrane. As bicarbonates form, these negatively charged ions are pulled across the membrane towards the positively charged electrode in the water-based solution on the wet side of the membrane. The liquid solution dissolves the bicarbonate back into carbon dioxide, so it can be released and mined for CO2convert.

The system uses a modular, stackable design that allows the system to easily scale up and down.

To convert the resulting carbon dioxide into ethylene, Singh and his colleagues used a second system in which a electric transmitted through a cell. Half the cell is filled with carbon dioxide obtained from the carbon capture system, the other half contains a water-based solution. An electrified catalyst draws a charge hydrogen atom are from water molecule into the other half of the unit separated by a membrane, where they combine with charged carbon atoms from carbon dioxide molecules to form ethylene.

The UIC researchers integrated the two systems by supplying the resulting carbon dioxide solution to the carbon conversion system and recycling it back. Closed-loop solution recycling ensures a continuous supply of carbon dioxide from the exhaust gas and its conversion to ethylene.

To test their integrated system, the researchers deployed a 100 square centimeter bipolar membrane electrolyzer to capture carbon dioxide from emissions and hydraulically connected to 1 square centimeter electrolytic cell to generate ethylene.

They can test the system continuously, 24 hours a day for seven days. Not only is the system stable over time, it also captures carbon at a rate of 24 grams per day and produces ethylene at a rate of 188 milligrams per day.

“In the journey to greening ethylene production, this is a potential breakthrough,” said Singh. “Our next step is to expand the integrated carbon capture and conversion system to production ethylene at a higher rate—at a rate of 1 kg per day and carbon capture at a rate higher than kg per day.”

Co-authors of the study include Aditya Prajapati and Rohan Sartape of UIC, and Miguel Galante, Jiahan Xie, Samuel Leung, Ivan Bessa, Marcio Andrad, Robert Somich, Marcio Reboucas, Gus Hutras and Nathalia Diniz of Braskem.

More information:
Aditya Prajapati et al., Fully integrated electrochemical system captures CO2 from exhaust gas to generate value-added chemicals at ambient conditions, Energy & Environmental Science (2022). DOI: 10.1039/D2EE03396H

quote: An integrated, negative net system for carbon capture and ethylene production (2022, 12 December) retrieved 12 December 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-12-net- negative-captures-carbon-ethylene.html

This document is the subject for the collection of authors. Other than any fair dealing for private learning or research purposes, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content provided is for informational purposes only.

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button