Cheaper, more efficient ways to capture carbon

Date:
March 16, 2022
Source:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Summary:
Researchers have developed a new tool that could lead to more
efficient and cheaper technologies for capturing heat-trapping gases
from the atmosphere and converting them into beneficial substances,
like fuel or building materials.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== University of Colorado Boulder researchers have developed a new tool that
could lead to more efficient and cheaper technologies for capturing heat-trapping gases from the atmosphere and converting them into
beneficial substances, like fuel or building materials. Such carbon
capture technology may be needed at scale in order to limit global
warning this century to 2.7 degrees F (1.5 Celsius) above pre-industrial temperatures and fend off catastrophic impacts of global climate change.


==========================================================================
The scientists describe their technique in a paper published this month
in the journal iSCIENCE.

The method predicts how strong the bond will be between carbon dioxide
and the molecule that traps it, known as a binder. This electrochemical diagnosis can be easily applied to any molecule that is chemically
inclined to bind with carbon dioxide, allowing researchers to identify
suitable molecular candidates with which to capture carbon dioxide from everyday air.

"The Holy Grail, if you will, is to try to inch toward being able to
use binders that can grab carbon dioxide from the air [around us],
not just concentrated sources," said Oana Luca, co-author of the new
study and assistant professor of chemistry. "Determining the strength
of binders allows us to figure out whether the binding will be strong
or weak, and identify candidates for future study for direct carbon
capture from dilute sources." The goal of carbon capture and storage technology is to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it
safely for hundreds or thousands of years. But while it has been in use
in the U.S. since the 1970s, it currently captures and stores a mere 0.1%
of global carbon emissions annually. To help meet carbon emissions goals
laid out by the IPCC, carbon capture and storage would have to rapidly
increase in scale by 2050.

Current industrial facilities around the world rely on capturing
carbon dioxide from a concentrated source, such as emissions from power
plants. While these methods can bind a lot of carbon dioxide quickly
and efficiently using large amounts of certain chemical binders, they
are also extraordinarily energy intensive.



==========================================================================
This method also is quite expensive at scale to take carbon dioxide and
turn it into something else useful, such as carbonates, an ingredient
in cement, or formaldehyde or methanol, which can be used as a fuel,
according to Luca, fellow-elect of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI).

Using electrochemical methods instead, such as those detailed in the new
CU Boulder-led study, would free carbon capture facilities from being
tied to concentrated sources, allowing them to exist almost anywhere.

Being able to easily estimate the strength of chemical bonds also
enables researchers to screen for which binders will be best suited --
and offer a cheaper alternative to traditional methods -- for capturing
and converting carbon into materials or fuel according to Haley Petersen, co-lead author on the study and graduate student in chemistry.

Creating chemical bonds The science of chemistry is based on a few
basic facts: One, that molecules are made of atoms, and two, that they
are orbited by electrons. When atoms bond with other atoms, they form molecules. And when atoms share electrons with other atoms, they form
what is called a covalent bond.



========================================================================== Using electricity, the researchers can activate these bonds by using an electrode to deliver an electron to a molecule. When they do that to an imidazolium molecule, like they did in this study, a hydrogen atom is
removed, creating a gap in a carbon atom for another molecule to want
to bond with it - - such as carbon dioxide.

However, carbon dioxide (CO2) is the kind of molecule that doesn't
typically like to create new bonds.

"It's generally unreactive, and in order to react with it, you also
have to bend it," said Luca. "So we're in a chemical space that hasn't
really been probed before, for CO2 capture." The method the researchers examines how good a whole family of carbenes (a specific type of molecule, containing a neutral carbon atom), that they can electrochemically
generate, are at binding CO2.

"Just by looking at very simple molecules -- molecules that we can make, molecules that we can modify -- we can obtain a map of the energetics
for electrochemical carbon capture. It is a small leap for now, but
possibly a big leap down the line," said Luca.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science
Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE 2040434.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Colorado_at_Boulder. Original written by Kelsey
Simpkins. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Haley A. Petersen, Abdulaziz W. Alherz, Taylor A. Stinson, Chloe G.

Huntzinger, Charles B. Musgrave, Oana R. Luca. Predictive
energetic tuning of C-Nucleophiles for the electrochemical
capture of carbon dioxide. iScience, 2022; 25 (4): 103997 DOI:
10.1016/j.isci.2022.103997 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220316132701.htm

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