Dual functional reactor for direct air capture of carbon dioxide and production of oxygenated hydrocarbons in one pot

There are a few major challenges associated with direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide, including 1) lowering capture costs and 2) disposal or usage of the captured carbon dioxide. On the other hand, converting carbon dioxide with renewable electricity into useful products and/or fuels has been hindered by the problems of 1) high costs and 2) availability of carbon dioxide. A new technology - Adsorption Concentrated Electrochemical Reactor (ACER) process is proposed to integrate direct air capture with its conversion to ethanol using renewable electricity into one reactor vessel. The ACER process dramatically simplifies process steps and eliminates usage of expensive equipment. The ACER reactor unit operates at low temperature and low pressures with air and water as primary feedstock. The new process is safer and more environmentally benign than other chemical conversion processes. Ethanol products are easy to store and transport and have large existing and future markets.The Phase I objective is to demonstrate functional feasibility of the ACER as a new generation of reactor technology for CO2 capture and conversion, and to produce performance data for scope process design and economics analysis of large, commercial-scale units. New bi-functional sorbent/catalyst materials will be prepared by utilizing the project team’s earlier inventions and new ideas. Single ACER cells will be built and tested to identify the optimum materials and design features. The promising cell will be tested on a flow testing stand by repeated capture and electrochemical regeneration/conversion cycles to demonstrate regeneration ability of the sorbent, catalytic stability, ethanol productivity, and electrical efficiency. The modular ACER units can be easily deployed and used to meet different processing capacity needs. One possible market is to install the ACER unit in buildings to reduce carbon dioxide levels while producing fresh oxygen gas recycled to the building, which may result in substantial savings in air conditioning energy costs. Another possible market is the conversion of excessive or cheap wind and solar power into ethanol for long-time chemical energy storage. Ethanol can be a primary feedstock for production of polymers and clean fuels to replace petroleum-derived hydrocarbon products.