(538w) New Era of Carbon Capture and Utilization Technology with Reaction Swing Absorption

Carbon capture and utilization technology has been recognized as one of the most promising technologies for mitigating climate change. The practical application of this technology is still challenging because of its low technological maturity expensive production cost, and high energy consumption. Herein, we report reaction swing absorption (RSA) as a potential net-zero CO₂ emission methodology for syngas production from CO₂. By utilizing a bicarbonate generating amine solvent, RSA successfully captures CO₂ from flue gas and selectively reduces it to syngas via a direct electrochemical CO2 reduction. The CO₂ absorption capability of TEA was measured with a bench scale absorber and a scalable system configuration for e CO₂R, and this further supported the feasibility of RSA in industrial applications. After optimization of variables in the e CO₂R system, such as catalyst, electrolyte, and membrane, RSA produced high purity syngas composed of 30 to 70% CO with a balance of H₂, depending on applied current densities ranging from -200 mA cm^−2 to -20 mA cm^−2. Our experimental result demonstrates that more than 85% of CO₂ from CO₂ lean flue gas can be recovered and electrochemically reduced into synthesis gas. A techno-economic analysis based on the experimental results showed that RSA is the most promising CCU process with the lowest CO₂ emissions, and it outperforms current CCU processes. If syngas, a product of the endothermic reactions of CO₂, can be produced economically, then it is possible that CCU technology can be industrialized. For example, methanol, ethanol, and dimethyl ether synthesis and the Fischer-Tropsch reaction are highly exothermic implying that these downstream processes can be operated without excessive energy consumption. Considering the technological maturity of downstream processes utilizing syngas, we believe that RSA can change the paradigm for chemical processes by realizing eco-friendly and cost-effective production of syngas from CO₂