(649b) Introducing Solid with Infused Reactive Liquid (SWIRL) for Effective CO2 Capture

The high capital and operation costs of the current commercial liquid-amine based carbon capture approach inhibit widespread implementation of the nearly century-old technology^1-2. Therefore, a more economically viable and effective CO₂ capture technology is desired to meet the target of limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels³. In this presentation, we report on a novel approach to liquid amine-based CO₂ capture, which is motivated by liquid infused surfaces (LIS) technology⁴. An LIS is a chemically functionalized micro- and/or nano-textured solid substrate that is able to trap and immobilize a thin layer of liquid on itself. LIS have been observed in nature. For example, Nepenthes pitcher plants generate a LIS to produce a very slippery surface to capture insects⁵. Biomimicry using LIS has attracted much attention over the last decade for potential applications in bio- and hydrocarbon fouling prevention, corrosion inhibition, anti-icing surfaces, as well as friction and drag reduction ^6-12. While applications utilizing the non-reactive impregnating liquid of an LIS to isolate or protect a solid surface have proven fruitful, exploitation of the immobilized liquid of LIS itself as a reactive medium has not been considered yet. Since the impregnating liquid is strongly held by capillary forces on the solid surface, it can be formed and structured by controlling and shaping the underlying substrate, enabling a new class of technological opportunities. For example, generating an LIS using a reactive liquid on a textured and chemically-modified continuum solid structure with high A/V (i.e., greater than 2000 m^-1) can shape a liquid with a similarly large A/V, see Fig. 1. We refer to this class of LIS as a “solid with infused reactive liquid” (SWIRL).

We report on the fabrication and demonstration of SWIRL-amine (amine is the reactive liquid). As opposed to the currently practiced aqueous amine technology, high amine-CO₂ interfacial area in SWIRL is generated without mechanical mixing, allowing the use of neat liquid amine with high CO₂ capacity. The intrinsically high A/V of SWIRL, critical for the effective mass transport of CO₂ from gas mixtures to the liquid amine, enables the amines to capture CO₂ to nearly full capacity. Further, SWIRL-amines show unusual temperature behavior, exhibiting an increase in CO₂ capture capacity with increasing temperature with optimum absorption temperatures higher than materials previously reported. Microcapillary experiments and a reactive Molecular Dynamic simulation reveal that the temperature behavior is due to the diffusion rate of carbamate, the CO₂/amine product, in the liquid amine. SWIRL-amine CO₂ capture capacity competes very well against previously reported CO₂ adsorbents and further increases in the presence of water vapor. This provides a high CO₂ capacity at elevated temperatures which may enable high temperature, high capacity, and isothermal absorption/regeneration processes. In addition, the high A/V SWIRL property promises much smaller-scale infrastructure. More broadly, the SWIRL technology could offer a new, efficient pathway for various other molecular separation applications.

References:

1- IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

2- Kangkang Li et al. Technoeconomic Assessment of an Advanced Aqueous Ammonia-Based Postcombustion Capture Process Integrated with a 650-MW, Environmental Sci. & Tech, 10746 (2016).

3- IPCC, 2018: Global warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. (2018).

4- Yeganeh et. al., Solid with Infused Reactive Liquid (SWIRL): a Novel Liquid-Based Separation Approach for Effective CO2 capture, Science Advances, 8, eabm0144 (2022).

5- F. Bohn & W. Federle, Insect aquaplaning: Nepenthes pitcher plants capture prey with the peristome, a fully wettable water-lubricated anisotropic surface. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 101, 14138-14143 (2004).

6- Amini, S. et al. Preventing mussel adhesion using lubricant-infused materials. Science 357, 668-673 (2017).

7- Epstein, A. K. et al. Liquid-infused structured surfaces with exceptional anti-biofouling performance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, 13182-13187 (2012).

8- Leslie, D. C. et al. A bioinspired omniphobic surface coating on medical devices prevents thrombosis and biofouling. Nature biotechnology 32, 1134-1140 (2014).

9- Girard, H.-L. et al. Asphaltene Adsorption on Functionalized Solids. Langmuir 36, 3894-3902 (2020).

10- Lee, J. et al. Oil-Impregnated Nanoporous Oxide Layer for Corrosion Protection with Self-Healing. Advanced Functional Materials 27, 1606040 (2017).

11- Kim, P. et al. Liquid-Infused Nanostructured Surfaces with Extreme Anti-Ice and Anti-Frost Performance. ACS Nano 6, 6569-6577 (2012).

12- Solomon, B. R. et al. Drag reduction using lubricant-impregnated surfaces in viscous laminar flow. Langmuir 30, 10970-10976 (2014).