(626c) Gas Separation Membrane Opportunities to Capture Greenhouse Gases

Solar radiation reaching the earth heats the planet's surface (oceans, land masses and atmosphere), evaporates water, drives wind and weather, and powers plant photosynthesis. The earth's surface, in turn, radiates a portion of this energy at infrared (IR) wavelengths. Much of this energy escapes into space. However, a significant fraction of the energy carried by outgoing IR radiation is reflected back by to earth by particulates and aerosols in the atmosphere or is absorbed by atmospheric gases, such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's), etc., known as greenhouse gases. These gases (with the exception of man-made CFCs) originate from both natural and man-made processes. As concentration of greenhouse gases increases in the earth's atmosphere, retention of radiated energy also increases. This shifts the planet's overall energy balance ? the balance between input from solar radiation absorbed and loss by radiation to space, contributing to global warming. This paper describes a variety of opportunities for membrane technologies to capture greenhouse gases. Increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is responsible for approximately half of the human activity related contribution to global warming. Membranes' potential to contribute significantly to the control of the greenhouse effect, illustrated in this presentation for CO2 capture, is applicable to other greenhouse gases as well.