ELECTROCHEMICALLY-MEDIATED ADSORPTIVE PROCESSES FOR CO_2 CAPTURE

摘要

The capture of anthropogenic carbon dioxide CO_2 from industrial and power generation sources, where the concentration of CO_2 is relatively high, is an important component in an overall portfolio of low carbon energy sources for climate change mitigation. The US Department of Energy (DOE) acknowledges, for instance, that for the foreseeable future coal will continue to play a critical role in the national and global electricity generation, and that innovations in the field of carbon capture from high concentration sources such as coal combustion and coal gasification units are crucial. In addition, on-board carbon capture for reduced emission from vehicles and other mobile sources, which account for almost 30% of all emissions in the US, has garnered interest over the last few years by the automotive, and gas and oil industries. Other sources of much lower CO_2 concentration collectively represent a large volume of carbon emissions, and there is thus a growing interest on the part of the DOE and private industries in capture technologies that operate over a wide range of CO_2 concentrations, especially at concentrations below 1%. There is also a significant benefit to innovations in the removal of CO_2 from enclosed spaces such as in buildings, aircraft, spacecraft and submarines, where the concentration of CO_2 is in the 1,000-10,000 ppm range, and the small spaces available limit the types of capture technologies that can be used. The removal of CO_2 from buildings to reduce its overall concentration to acceptable levels for human activity will obviate the need for frequent air exchanges and thereby reduce the energy needs for conditioning of fresh air brought into the buildings; this in turn results in fewer CO_2 emissions from power plants.