A breakthrough technology that can capture twice the amount of harmful gases from power plant emissions has been introduced by the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The Reversible Acid Gas Capture is capable of pulling gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur and other pollutant gases from power plant emissions. The process is being pegged as a possible replacement for the current technology being used for this purpose.  Not only will the new procedure require fewer resources like water and energy but it will also help to save money.  Read more about Future of Emissions Trading Markets: SO2, NOX, CO2, Mercury

David Heldebrant the lead scientist working on the project is extremely hopeful that power plants will easily be able to replace their current technology with this process. Poisonous gases which are a part of power plant emissions are commonly known as acid gases. The new process uses an organic liquid which contains no water to scrub the pollutants out of power plant emissions with the help of this acid gas-binding organic liquid. This liquid resembles an oily compound and is capable of capturing acid gases even at room temperature. Later, it can be heated to recover and dispose the acid gases from power plant emissions appropriately.

Even though this recyclable liquid requires little energy to heat it has the capacity to hold twice the amount of harmful gases released through power plant emissions as compared to the current leading liquid absorbent. The liquid is a made by combining water with monoethanolamine, this result in the formation of a basic molecule that is capable of grabbing carbon dioxide from power plant emissions.

Before the discovery of this breakthrough compound previous technologies only included development of organic liquids that would pull carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. This new study successfully demonstrates the use of the process to attract other acid gases like sulfur dioxide from power plant emissions.

The current process used for the capture of carbon dioxide from power plant emissions is inefficient and requires a lot of energy because an excessive amount of water is pumped and heated during the process. One of the reasons for the inclusion of the water is the highly corrosive nature of monoethanolamine compounds.

However one of the primary advantages of the ‘Reversible Acid Gas Capture’ is the fact that the liquid which contains the gas grabbing molecules is already in the liquid form so water addition is not required. Also the organic liquids that bind with the organic gases from power plant emissions require less heat to release the captured gases.

The process was demonstrated by Heldebrant and his team with the use of a liquid that grabbed carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. The liquid is called CO2BOL. The CO2BOL solution is mixed into a holding tank that contains carbon dioxide. This liquid then forms a chemical bond with the carbon dioxide thus turning into a liquid salt solution.

This salt solution was then reheated in another tank to remove the carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. Gases like Nitrogen which posed no environmental hazard were not captured and released into the environment while the toxic compounds are stored separately. After the second process the CO2BOL solution goes back to its original state ready for use again.