Small-molecule catalysts improve CO2 capture

Researchers in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), based in California, are working with Illinois University and Babcock & Wilcox to develop synthetic small-molecule catalysts that greatly speed up the absorption of CO₂ into liquid solvents that enable them to bind CO₂ less tightly and reduce the energy required to release the CO₂ from the solvent afterwards.

This will open up a range of process conditions and methods for industrial CO₂ capture, ranging from the near-term improvement of existing processes to new capture technologies in the longer term.

’At the highest level, this will speed up systems that absorb CO₂ from flue gas,’ said Roger Aines, LLNL’s Carbon Fuel Cycle programme leader.

The team is replicating one of the fastest enzymes known – carbonic anhydrase – which speeds up the rate in which CO₂ is hydrated.

The catalysts have already been developed in the biomedical field but need to be enhanced to provide industrial robustness against thermal and chemical degradation.