All-in-one CO2 Reactors

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Reference #: 01054 The University of South Carolina is offering licensing opportunities for an all-in-one reactor to capture and convert carbon dioxide emitted from power plants into syngas fuel. Invention Description: The subject invention describes two types of all-in-one carbon dioxide (CO2) reactors that combine high-flux electrochemical separation membranes and conventional solid oxide electrolyzers (SOEs). These reactors are able to selectively and efficiently capture CO2 from flue or fuel gas and instantly convert it into syngas in a single step without changing process conditions. Potential Applications: Capture and convert CO2 emitted from power plants Advantages and Benefits: CO2-selective separation membranes do not require external electronics, making them technically and economically more attractive than electrically-driven, molten carbonate fuel-cell-based CO2 concentrators. The combined capture and conversion technology eliminates the need for cooling/reheating and depressurizing/pressurizing of captured CO2 stream during the conversion. Waste heat held by high-temperature CO2-containng streams can be recovered to generate steam for electricity with impressive efficiency and competitive cost or directly reused for the endothermic electrolysis reactions needed to make the syngas. These all-in-one reactors present huge cost and efficiency benefits compared to conventional ways of capturing and storing CO2, and therefore has great potential to be implemented into the existing and new coal and natural gas power plants. Background: The current approach to stabilizing atmospheric CO2 concentrations is to limit the emission of CO2 from the existing and new large-scale fossil-fueled power plants by capturing CO2 at point-sources and storing it. Significant technical progress has been made over the past decade. However, the major challenge facing the commercialization of these technologies is the high energy penalty associated with CO2 capture, compression, and storage (CCS), which drastically lowers the overall plant efficiency and ultimately increases the cost of electricity produced. An attractive alternative to storing captured CO2 is to recycle it back to fuel form. The significance of this technological development is enormous; it rebalances the carbon cycle in the ecosystem and, therefore, enables a sustainable energy future. Making synthetic fuels from CO2 emitted from power plants can be carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative when the energy inputs used in the conversion are renewable resources. This technology offers a viable technical solution to mitigating global warming and climate change through CCS.