Solvent-Free CO2 Capture Using Membrane Capacitive Deionization

Capture of CO2, originating from both fossil fuels, such as coal combustion, and from renewables, such as biogas, appears to be one of the greatest ...
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Energy and the Environment

Solvent free CO2 capture using Membrane Capacitive DeIonization (MCDI) Louis Legrand, Olivier Schaetzle, Robert de Kler, and Hubertus V.M. Hamelers Environ. Sci. Technol., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b00980 • Publication Date (Web): 11 Jul 2018 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on July 16, 2018

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Solvent Free CO2 Capture using Membrane Capacitive Deionization (MCDI).

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L. Legrand, †‡ O. Schaetzle, † R.C.F. de Kler, † H.V.M. Hamelers †,* †

Wetsus, European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Oostergoweg 7, 8911 MA Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. ‡ Department of Environmental Technology, Wageningen University, Bornse Weilanden 9, 6708 WG Wageningen, The Netherlands. *

Corresponding author: [email protected]. Phone: +31-58-2543000.

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Abstract

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Capture of CO2, both from fossil origin like coal combustion and from renewable origin

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like biogas appears to be one of the greatest technological challenges of this century. In this

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study, we show that Membrane Capacitive Deionization (MCDI) can be used to capture CO2

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as bicarbonate and carbonate ions produced from the reaction of CO2 with water. This novel

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approach allows capturing CO2 without chemicals usage, at room temperature and

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atmospheric pressure. In this process, the adsorption and desorption of bicarbonate ions

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from the deionized water solution drives the CO2(g) absorption/desorption from a gas phase.

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In this work, the effect of the current density and the CO2 partial pressure were studied. We

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found that between 55-75% of the electrical charge of the capacitive electrodes can be

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directly used to absorb CO2 gas. The energy requirement of such a system was found ≈40 kJ

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mol-1 at 15% CO2 and could be further improved by reducing the ohmic and non-ohmic

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energy losses of the MCDI cell.

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Keywords: MCDI, CO2 capture, Adsorption, activated carbon

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Introduction

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Projections, made by the International Energy Agency predict that achieving a net zero

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CO2 emission by the mid-century (≈2050) is critical to limit the temperature increase to 2°C1.

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While renewable energy sources like sun and wind already replaced fossil fuels for power

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production in part, production of fuels and chemicals from renewable sources is slow. It

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seems that some form of CO2 capture from different sources such as flue gas (coal, gas or

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biomass power plants), biogas or even from ambient air is required to achieve net zero

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emissions in 2050. The captured CO2 can be either stored or utilized as a chemical building

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block by electrochemical CO2 reduction2-4 or thermocatalytic CO2 conversion5,6.

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To capture CO2 from a gas mixture, various concepts have been developed including

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adsorption7-9,

absorption10-12,

separation13-14,

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electrochemical methods16-18 and biochemical methods19,20. Among these concepts, amine

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scrubbing (chemical absorption) is the most developed and applied technology. This

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technology is based on the chemical interaction between CO2 and an amine group, which

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drives the absorption process of CO2 into the amine solvent. Despite its wide usage, this

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process shows several disadvantages, such as high amount of heat energy needed to

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regenerate the solvent21,22 and solvent degradation, which leads to high costs and some

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other toxic emissions24, solvent loss25 and corrosion effects26. Thus, more energy-efficient

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and environmentally friendly CO2 capture methods are still of importance to investigate.

membrane

cryogenic

separation15,

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Alternative approaches based on electrochemistry attract more and more attention.

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This approach uses fewer chemicals and can potentially minimize the energy consumption.

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Moreover, electrochemical systems, based on electrical power, are more suitable for CO2

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removal from emission points where insufficient waste heat is available for solvent

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regeneration. Various concepts have been explored such as Molten carbonate fuel cell27,28,

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pH swing with ion-exchange membranes16,29, electrochemical generation of nucleophile30-33

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and supercapacitive swing adsorption34. In this study, we propose an alternative concept to

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capture CO2 based on Membrane Capacitive Deionization (MCDI)35-37.

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MCDI cells are composed of activated carbon electrodes and ion-exchange membranes,

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and are mainly used to desalinate water. By applying a current through the MCDI cell, ions

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are removed from the electrolyte into the pores of the electrodes, and are stored in the

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electrical double layer (EDL). During this step, energy is temporarily stored in the electrodes

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due to its capacitive behavior. By reversing the current, the ions are desorbed from the pores

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of the electrodes to the electrolyte, and the energy previously stored is released. One

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electrode is covered by an anion-exchange membrane, and the other electrode is covered by

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a cation-exchange membrane. Due to the selectivity of ion-exchange membranes, MCDI

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shows higher ions adsorption capacity38 for monovalent salt (NaCl, KCl) compared to CDI.

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In this study, we show that MCDI technology can be used to capture CO2(g) in the form of

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HCO3- and CO32-. These ions are produced by the reaction between CO2(g) and deionized

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water, producing ions as described in eqs 1-3. Here, H2CO3* stands for the combined

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concentrations of CO2(aq) and H2CO3. These two species are usually added up as they are

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difficult to distinguish. The value for Hcc (defined as aqueous concentration over gaseous

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concentration) was calculated from ref39,40, and the K1 and K2 values were taken from ref41.

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   ∗

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  ∗ +

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  +







with Hcc=0.83

(1)

with K1=10-6.35 M

(2)

with K2=10-10.33 M

(3)

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Depending on the CO2 content in the gas, the reactions between CO2(g) and deionized

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water lead to an equilibrium composition. Figure 1b shows the concentration of CO2(g) and

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H2CO3* as well as the pH, based on the eqs 1-3 as a function of HCO3- concentration in

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deionized water. The concentration of CO32- can be neglected as it is lower than 10-11 mM,

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due to the low pH of the electrolyte (pH