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Novel salt-based strategy may
efficiently capture and store carbon dioxide
By
Mrigakshi Dixit
May 24, 2023
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Aerial view of a coal fired power station.
With the rising greenhouse gas emissions, it has
become inevitable to develop cutting-edge solutions to remove the
lingering carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere.
To address this urgent global crisis, an international team of
researchers has developed a promising strategy to store and capture
carbon dioxide (CO2).
They developed a guanidinium sulfate salt-based method for carbon
capture and storage at room temperature and pressure. Scientists used
this salt to make "lattice-like structures" called clathrates, which
enabled the capturing of CO2 molecules.
"The guanidinium sulfate serves to organize and trap the CO2 molecules
without reacting with them. We have discovered a rare example of a
clathrate that is stable and non-corrosive at ambient temperature and
pressure, a highly desirable feature compared with ethanol amine,
ammonia, and other solutions that are commonly used in carbon
capture,” explained Cafer Yavuz, professor of chemistry, and director
of the KAUST Oxide and Organic Nanomaterials for Energy & Environment
(ONE) Laboratory, in an official statement.
The salt-based, clathrate technique allows for
quick CO2 solidification, making it easier to store. Conventionally,
CO2 is stored as a solid in the form of dry ice in gas cylinders or as
mineral carbonates. In contrast, the clathrate method felicitates the
CO2 to be stored as a solid powder.
"Our team made it possible to carry CO2 in a solid form without the
need for refrigeration or pressure. You will be able to literally
shovel CO2-loaded solids from now on. The impact is wide and strong,
as the global fuel industry and the Kingdom entities are actively
looking for ways to capture, store and transport CO2 without
significant energy penalties," said Yavuz.
The new method is considered energy-efficient as the entire process
requires little energy input. Furthermore, the salt-based strategy is
less expensive than large, bulky machines that capture this global
warming gas.
In the future, this novel method of capturing, transporting, and
storing carbon dioxide could be a game changer for many industries.
Various universities conducted this new study; the Southern University
of Science and Technology, the University of Science and Technology of
China, and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
The results have been reported in the journal Cell Reports Physical
Science.
Study abstract:
Reversible CO2 capture and release under ambient conditions is crucial
for energy-efficient carbon capture and storage. Here, we report the
pressure swing crystallization of CO2 in a single-crystalline
guanidinium sulfate-based clathrate salt under practical conditions of
52 kPa and 298 K, with a high CO2 density (0.252 g cm−3) and capacity
(17 wt %). The captured CO2 is released as a pure stream through
moderate means of pressure or temperature stimulation, all while the
desorbed Gua2SO4 is ready for another cycle. The clathrate is
selective exclusively to CO2 even in the presence of common flue gas
components, such as water vapor and N2, owing to the specific
electrostatic interaction between the CO2 and guanidinium cations. The
mechanism unraveled through single-crystal studies is distinctively
different from physisorption or chemisorption, opening up a promising
venue for future carbon capture and storage technologies through rapid
CO2 solidification using an abundant salt.
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