A team of researchers at the Rice University have received a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) for the development of technologies that will capture carbon dioxide CO2 emissions occurring from power plants and will help in the reduction of green house gases.
The research team will be headed by George Hirasaki in the position of principal investigator. Sumedh Warudkar, who is a graduate from Rice University and also the President of the University’s Graduate Student Association, will be a co-investigator. He has also developed, written and submitted the proposal to DOE. Other members of the research team include Michael Wong, professor of chemistry and chemical and bio molecular engineering, Ken Cox, professor in the practice of chemical and bio molecular engineering and Ed Billups, professor emeritus of chemistry.
Traditionally, natural gas producers remove carbon dioxide through a two phased process wherein the natural gas flows upward through a vertical column and the liquid containing carbon dioxide gets drained out of the column in the first phase. This liquid is called the amine. The amine, which contains the carbon dioxide is then exposed to high heat levels to remove the CO2 in the second phase. However, this process is difficult to implement in a power plant since the steam lost in the heating process could be used to generate power.
According to Warudkar’s research over the past three years, both the processes can be carried out in a single column, in which special materials can be used to separate the liquids and gases without requiring huge amounts of heat. The team intends to bring this technology to a full scale by 2014. A total of 16 teams have been chosen for the DOE grant.
Source: http://media.rice.edu/