and manufacturing facilities. This is done primarily using large retrofits to funnel emissions into chambers filled with a"capture" solution—a mix of amines, or ammonia-based compounds, that chemically bind with carbon dioxide, producing a stable form that can be separated out from the rest of the flue gas.
"Carbon capture is a mature technology, in that the chemistry has been known for about 100 years, but it requires really large installations, and is quite expensive and energy-intensive to run," Gallant notes."What we want are technologies that are more modular and flexible and can be adapted to more diverse sources of carbon dioxide. Electrochemical systems can help to address that.
Gallant previously demonstrated this electrochemical process could work to capture and convert carbon dioxide into a solid carbonate form. They methodically altered various properties of each solution, such as the pH, concentration, and type of amine, then ran each solution past an electrode made from silver—a metal that is widely used in electrolysis studies and known to efficiently convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide.