2024-07-10 06:00:12
In the face of the climate emergency, improving CO2 capture technologies is essential to reduce industrial emissions. Researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have made a significant breakthrough by developing CO2 capture membranes graphene as thin as a atomintegrating thenitrogen pyridine. This innovation could transform the way industries manage their emissions carbon dioxide.
CO2 emissions from power plants, cement plants, steel mills and waste incinerators represent a major challenge. Currently, methods of capture of carbone are often energy-intensive and expensive, limiting their adoption to large scale. To overcome these obstacles, scientists are exploring new technologies, such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), to make these processes more efficient and cost-effective. Graphene, a material known for its exceptional properties, is at the heart of this innovation. The team led by Kumar Varoon Agrawal at EPFL has developed graphene membranes with pore edges enriched with pyridine nitrogen, significantly improving CO2 capture. These membranes demonstrate a remarkable balance between permeance and selectivity, two essential characteristics for efficient carbon capture.
Manufacturing these membranes involves several advanced steps. First, the researchers synthesize single-layer graphene films by chemical vapor deposition on a leaf of copper. Then, pores are created by controlled oxidation at theozonefollowed by treatment withammonia to integrate pyridine nitrogen at the pore edges. This methodology ensures precise integration of nitrogen, which is essential for membrane performance.
The results are impressive: these membranes have a CO2/N2 separation factor of 53 for flux gas containing 20% ​​CO2. For concentrations as low as 1% CO2, the separation factor exceeds 1,000. This exceptional performance demonstrates the potential of these membranes for industrial applications even under low CO2 concentration conditions.
The membrane preparation process is not only efficient but also scalable, enabling centimeter-scale production. This scalability is essential for their large-scale deployment in industrial environments. The EPFL team now plans to produce these membranes through a continuous process, paving the way for broad industrial adoption and significant reductions in the costs and energy requirements of carbon capture processes.
The incorporation of these membranes could radically transform industrial practices in terms of CO2 emissions management. By offering a more sustainable and economical solution for CCUS, this technology represents a major step forward in the fight against climate change.
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