Capacitive processes for carbon capture and energy recovery from CO2 emissions: Shaping a new technology going from water to gas applications

Louis J.P. Legrand

Research output: Thesisinternal PhD, WU

Abstract

Reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere is one of the greatest environmental challenges of this century. Conventional technologies to capture CO2 gas from CO2 emissions points (e.g., power plants, chemical industry) have been developed, but their application has been hindered by their low energy efficiency and their intense use of harmful chemicals. In this Ph.D. thesis, we investigated a more sustainable approach based on capacitive technologies to reduce CO2 emissions from emissions points by (i) harvesting electrical energy from CO2 emissions, or/and (ii) capture CO2 gas from emissions points. Conventionally, this technology has been used and developed for water technology (water desalination and blue energy). Thus, this thesis mainly focuses on shaping this capacitive technology going from water to gas applications through three different steps, i.e., (1) proof of concept, (2) understanding of the concept, and (3) exploration of cell designs to optimize the technology. We mainly demonstrate that capacitive technologies can be used to capture CO2 and harvest electrical energy from CO2 emissions. We also show that the (i) energy losses due to electrical resistance must be minimized and that (ii) the ions selectivity during the process must be maximized to improve the performance of this technology. To overcome these two challenges, we proposed and discussed promising capacitive cell designs.

Original languageEnglish
QualificationDoctor of Philosophy
Awarding Institution
  • Wageningen University
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Buisman, Cees, Promotor
  • Hamelers, H.V.M., Co-promotor, External person
  • Tedesco, M., Co-promotor, External person
Award date11 Sept 2020
Place of PublicationWageningen
Publisher
Print ISBNs9789463954891
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Sept 2020

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