Published by Todd Bush on November 6, 2024
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have synthesized a new material, COF-999, that can capture carbon dioxide from air and remains both chemically and thermally stable even after 100 cycles of capture and regeneration.
COF-999 is a deep yellow porous compound that can absorb carbon dioxide directly from the air at significant quantities.
>> In Other News: Empire Diversified Energy and Battelle Partner to Launch Hydrogen Hub in Appalachia
Removing carbon dioxide directly from the air is increasingly likely to be relied on as a tool to tackle the climate crisis as countries delay action to cut emissions. But it’s expensive and energy-intensive because, although carbon dioxide has reached dangerous levels, it makes up just over 0.04% of the atmosphere.
To overcome some of the shortfalls of existing carbon capture materials, researchers turned to the design principles of reticular chemistry. The porous crystalline covalent–organic framework (COF) they made was modified to produce polyamines within the pore that are covalently bonded to the framework, preventing them from being lost during capture and regeneration cycles.
Omar Yaghi, a reticular chemistry pioneer at the University of California, Berkeley, stated, ‘Even though some materials have a higher capacity than ours, they are not cyclable – they might cycle up to 10 times and then that’s it. We cycled 100 times and we didn’t see any degradation of behavior which then, by extrapolation – because we’re not losing any capacity – you can tell that this material is going to go a long way … thousands and thousands of cycles.
Yaghi notes that COFs are more stable than the previous material class he developed, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), which are being used in pilot projects to capture carbon from cement plants.
COF-999’s desorption energy is also lower than many other materials, taking place at 60°C, compared with more than 100°C for other sorbents. At such a low temperature, waste heat – for example, from a power station – could provide the necessary energy, according to Yaghi.
Radu Custelcean, a distinguished research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US, who works on DAC, commented, ‘While the DAC performance parameters of this COF material, like cyclic CO2 capacity, CO2 uptake rate, and regeneration energy and temperature, are relatively good, they are not remarkable compared to other DAC absorbents, such as aqueous amino acids.’
However, Yaghi’s research student, Zihui Zhou, is close to doubling the capture capacity of COF-999 under laboratory conditions by modifying the material.
With the current reported capacity of the COF to take up CO2, almost 50,000 tonnes would be needed for a plant capturing 1 million tonnes of gas a year. Ambitious mitigation strategies call for building as many as 1,500 such plants every year between 2030 and 2050.
Yaghi remarked, ‘There’s nothing exotic about the chemistry. It’s basic organic chemistry … and many of the constituents are being used in industry and scaled up to multi-tonne quantities. So I’m not worried about that at all,’ he added, though he is already focusing on a more environmentally friendly means of production.
The synthesis currently involves solvents such as dichlorobenzene and butanol, followed by multiple washing cycles with methanol. Much more efficient, scalable, and greener synthetic routes for these COFs need to be developed before they become feasible for large-scale DAC application, Custelcean says.
Yaghi has founded a start-up to ensure the chemistry can be done ‘in a cyclable way, so that we don’t generate any waste and the constituents are made from harmless products’. However, ‘initially, we have to work with what we have because of the urgency of the situation’. He stresses, though, that the COF itself is not volatile and is optimistic that its lifespan will be measured in years.
Other researchers point out that COF-999 has yet to be tested in a process. Jennifer Wilcox, a chemical engineer and energy policy expert at the University of Pennsylvania, noted, ‘It’s always exciting when new materials are developed with increased CO2 capacities … this study is only considering the material properties and missing, for instance, engineering characteristics of performance. Success at the end of the day is not just about capacity but the kinetics of capture and ultimately costs of capital and operating, which you only can estimate after applying the engineering to the chemistry.
Follow the money flow of climate, technology, and energy investments to uncover new opportunities and jobs.
Inside This Issue 🌍 Carbon-Negative Fuels Pioneer Pathway Energy Debuts with Ultra Negative Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Plans for New SAF Facility on US Gulf Coast 🛠️ NETL Supported Completion o...
Inside This Issue 🏭 Technip Energies and GE Vernova Awarded a Major Contract for the Net Zero Teesside Power Project, Which Aims to Be the World’s First Gas-fired Power Station With Carbon Capture...
Inside This Issue 🚆 Ballard to Supply 8 MW of Fuel Cell Engines to Stadler for Californian Passenger Rail 🧪 Revolutionizing Carbon Capture: Scientists Double MOF Efficiency 🌍 Mines Researchers Pri...
Nimbus and Blue Origin to accelerate in-space and lunar fuel cell product development GROTON, Conn.--Nimbus Power Systems, Inc., a pioneering developer of advanced fuel cell technologies for heavy...
Hydron Energy Signs Commercial Collaboration Agreement with FortisBC
Hydron Energy Inc., the cleaner fuel company that has developed the low-cost INTRUPTor™ gas upgrading solution, announced it has signed a collaboration agreement with FortisBC Energy Inc. (FortisBC...
Aiming for 15 RNG projects to be operational by 2027, the organization also adds a VP of Commercial to its executive leadership team DALLAS, Dec. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- LF Bioenergy, a renewable...
Oil Giant Exxonmobil Eyes Data Centre Energy With Carbon Capture & Natural Gas
Oil and gas giant ExxonMobil is getting in on the data centre rush, with plans to offer its carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems to generate low-carbon electricity sites across the US. Outline...
Follow the money flow of climate, technology, and energy investments to uncover new opportunities and jobs.