(685a) Advanced Manufactured Carbonate Materials for CO2 Utilization in Algal Biomass Production

The ability to easily and cheaply transport carbon dioxide (CO₂) from point-sources such as power plants to distributed utilization sites of widely varying scales will enable broader application of captured CO₂. In the case of algal biomass cultivation, the use of carbonate materials for CO₂ capture, transport, and delivery to algae has the potential to: 1) eliminate the requirement for co-location of algal production facilities with power plants or costly, low-volume pipelines, 2) develop a means of inorganic carbon transport, storage, and CO₂ mass transfer tuned to algal productivity levels, and 3) reduce carbon capture costs by eliminating the need for energy-intensive CO₂ stripping and compression processes.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has developed advanced manufactured materials that consist of aqueous sodium carbonate, which captures CO₂ as sodium bicarbonate, encapsulated within a CO₂-permeable polymer to increase the surface area and improve carbon capture rates by an order-of-magnitude compared with carbonate solution, shown in Figure 1. Advanced manufacturing enables the use of these otherwise kinetically-limited but inexpensive and environmentally-benign solvents for carbon capture, storage, and delivery to algal ponds. In collaboration with Sandia National Laboratory we have demonstrated the biocompatibility and ability of these carbonate-based CO₂ capture materials to deliver CO₂ and control the media pH in algal cultures up to 100L. In addition to experimental data we will show results from a techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment of this technology.

Figure 1: Image of silicone-sodium carbonate composite printed into a mesh structure using advanced manufacturing, and scanning electron microscopy images of the cross-section of a filament of the composite showing the distribution of carbonate particles.

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. (LLNL-ABS-808071)