THE UNITED States Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed a reusable organic liquid that can remove harmful acid gases from emissions generated by power plants.
Reversible Acid Gas Capture utilises organic liquids that, unlike current methods, require no water to bind with harmful acid gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide.
The process could easily replace current industrial practices to help clean the environment in a way that is energy efficient, cost effective and saves on water.
The project’s lead research scientist, David Heldebrant, says that current methods used to capture and release carbon dioxide emissions from power plants use a lot of energy because they pump and heat an excess of water during the process. But in PNNL’s process the acid-gas binding organic molecules require less heat, compared to water, to release the captured gases.
The work is supported by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Energy Conversion Initiative.
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