An intensified process for reactive capture of carbon dioxide from the air and its conversion to methanol

C56-25b-273571Direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO2) and its conversion to green platform chemicals can provide a pathway for deep decarbonization of our chemical industry. Such technology can also help with sustainability of carbon containing chemicals. DAC technologies can potentially be used everywhere in conjunction with renewable power sources making them potentially carbon negative. While capture alone will not be effective as storage and transport of CO2 can be costly and not scalable. So, technologies that can capture and convert CO2 into useful chemicals and solid products using renewable power will allow for both sustainability and decarbonization of the chemical industry. Current production of methanol using natural gas emits about 2.2 tons of CO2 per ton of methanol. There is about 80 million tons of methanol produced every year globally. Production of carbon neutral methanol can enable deep decarbonization of chemical industry. ADEM proposes to utilize a high-capacity nanowire-based adsorbent for direct air capture technology that can operate at ambient conditions without any external heating and/or pressure swing. The technology uses plasma discharge swing to release CO2 and has been demonstrated at lab scale with both sorption and desorption. In a separate development, ADEM has demonstrated a Plasma catalytic process with 13% single pass conversion using 5 lpm of CO2 at atmospheric pressure. Preliminary life cycle analysis (LCA) has shown a significant reduction of CO2 emissions with methanol production even when considering the emissions associated with green hydrogen. Specific objectives of the Phase I project are: (a) Demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed plasma catalytic process for integrated direct air capture combined with methanol production at 10 grams/day scale; (b) Using preliminary experimental data, perform life cycle analysis to demonstrate the carbon neutrality or carbon negative nature when using green hydrogen and green power for the process; and (c) Perform techno-economics to understand the cost of methanol production using the process at 1 ton/day scale. With a successful demonstration with technical feasibility in Phase I, ADEM will design a scaled-up process to 1 Kg/day scale. CO2 can be used as an inexpensive, nontoxic, and alternative carbon resource to fossil fuels in the production of chemicals. As with CO2 chemical utilization, converting CO2 to methanol is the most technologically mature pathway. According to the new report published by The Brainy Insights, the global methanol market is expected to grow from $24.10 billion in 2020 to $ 66.06 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 5.53% during the forecast period 2021- 2030. Methanol production from Direct air capture of CO2 and green hydrogen using plasma catalytic technology can be promising for CO2 capture and conversion to methanol in outdoor environment or indoor office spaces with high air circulation.