Research to Explore Polymer Catalytic Membrane Systems for the Capture and Recovery of CO2
06 May 2008
A materials chemist working in the Organic Materials Innovation Centre (OMIC) at The University of Manchester (UK), has won £150,000 (US$296,000) of new funding to explore the use of a special polymer in a catalytic membrane system to capture and recover CO2 from power plants.
Dr. Peter Budd’s project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), will explore the potential of composite membranes made from a polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM), and a synthetic catalyst.
The researchers propose using a PIM as a matrix or sub-layer together with a catalyst which acts as a carbonix anhydrase mimic, catalyzing either CO2 hydration or bicarbonate dehydration depending on pH. In addition working with a known carbonic anhydrase mimic (a Zn(II) cyclen complex), the team will investigate the potential of two novel heterogeneous catalyst systems which have not previously been studied for this type of application: nanoporous Zn pthalocyanine polymer networks and Zn phthalocyanine cubic crystals.
They will also explore possibilities for optimizing the membrane for either CO2 removal or CO2 recovery, through the control of local pH within the membrane or through use of catalysts with different pKa values, and so to develop a novel, efficient double membrane system.
This latest project expands on other work by Dr Budd, Professor Neil McKeown at Cardiff University and David Book at the University of Birmingham, which is aiming to use PIMs to store large amounts of hydrogen. (Earlier post.)
Polymers have not previously been investigated as materials for the storage of hydrogen because most polymers have enough conformational and rotational freedom to pack space efficiently and are therefore not microporous.
The polymers developed by Dr Budd and colleagues do possess significant microporosity. Preliminary hydrogen sorption results have shown a capacity of about 3 wt%. Most importantly, the chemical composition of PIMs can be tailored via synthetic chemistry.
If we could get that figure up to six per cent hydrogen, that may be enough for a car to go around 300 miles without a refill.
—Dr. Peter Budd
Resources
Grant reference EP/F060858/1 Novel Catalytic Membranes for CO2 Removal and Recovery
Well this might be safer for a hydrogen fuel cell, if the trick to get it up 6% will work out. Perhaps layering it like a battery might do it. (just guessing at thoughts in my open mind) If this could be used to sperate CO2 into it componets, then maybe the oxygen could be used as a catalist with the hydrogen to power a car. The waste would be H2O then. The carbon could be caught in a trap of some kind and delivered to the steel industry for use in their products. Just a thought.
Posted by: Ross | 06 May 2008 at 04:23 PM
I've previously proposed that CO2 capture be combined with electrodialysis to cause reactions such as:
CO2 + H2O + NaCl --> HCl + NaHCO3
CO2 + H2O + 2NaCl --> 2 HCl + Na2CO3
(with the hydrochloric acid then separately neutralized by silicate minerals such as olivine.) The bicarbonate/carbonate would be stored, or perhaps dissolved into the ocean. This could have lower energy cost than a system that breaks the salt into acid and base, then uses the base to extract CO2 from a gas stream.
A bipolar membrane with these zinc anhydrase analogues at the junction would be useful for this.
Posted by: Paul F. Dietz | 07 May 2008 at 06:07 AM