A Novel Vent Waste Recovery System for Ultracapacitors

The high voltage charge of an ultracapacitor can create high temperatures, and during this time gases are generated due to thermal evaporation, chemical reactions and electrochemical reactions. While venting of these gases may help to control the pressure build-up within the ultracapacitor, uncontrolled venting of these by-product gases to the environment is not desirable. This is of particular concern for the ultracapacitors using organic electrolytes, due to the extremely toxic and flammable nature of the vent gases, which can include acetonitrile, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. TDA Research, Inc. proposes to develop a compact system to control the emissions of harmful gases from ultracapacitors. The system will effectively reduce the concentrations of all toxic and flammable gases to sub ppmv levels providing safe and stable operation for the ultracapacitor.