CBE Seminar Series: Curtis Berlinguette

Carbon capture and utilization schemes require that CO₂ captured from the atmosphere (or a point source) be released from the sorbent, and that the sorbent be recycled to capture additional CO₂. Alkaline solutions such as KOH are effective at capturing CO₂ through reactions that form (bi)carbonates, but the recovery of CO₂ gas and hydroxide before CO₂ electrolysis requires energy-intensive steps. We solved this problem by designing an electrochemical reactor that converts bicarbonate “reactive carbon capture solutions” into carbon-containing products. In this presentation, I will show how this reactor couples CO₂ conversion with upstream carbon capture. Not only does this reactor bypass the expensive step of liberating CO₂ from the sorbent, but it can also perform better than the reactors fed with gaseous CO₂.