The present disclosure relates to a sorbent material composite article, methods of forming and using the same for adsorption, including adsorption for direct air capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels associated with greenhouse gas emission are shown to be harmful to the environment. As reported by the Climate.gov article “Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide,” the 2019 average CO2 level in the atmosphere was 409.8 ppm, the highest level that has been noted in the past 800,000 years. The rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere is also reported to be much higher than the rates in previous decades.
In order to limit climate change to acceptable levels, it is not only necessary to reduce CO2 emissions in the near future to zero but also to achieve negative CO2 emissions. Several possibilities exist in order to achieve negative emissions, e.g. combustion of biomaterials for the generation of electricity combined with CO2 capture from the combustion flue gas and subsequent CO2 sequestration (BECCS) or direct air capture (DAC) of CO2.
Capturing CO2 directly from the atmosphere, referred to as DAC, is one of several means of mitigating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and has attractive economic perspectives as a non-fossil, location-independent CO2 source for the commodity market and for the production of synthetic fuels. The specific advantages of CO2 capture from the atmosphere include: a) DAC can address the emissions of distributed sources (e.g. vehicles . . . land, sea and air), which account for a large portion of the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions and can currently not be captured at the site of emission in an economically feasible way; b) DAC can address legacy emissions and can therefore create truly negative emissions, and c) DAC systems do not need to be attached to the source of emission but may be location independent and can be located at the site of further CO2 processing or usage.
There is increasing motivation to develop and improve upon these processes to make them more efficient, maximizing the amount of CO2 removed from the atmosphere while minimizing the energy required in the process.
A direct air capture (DAC) device and methods of controlling the same are disclosed herein. In one example (“Example 1”), the DAC device includes a plurality of contactor elements that are aligned with respect to each other to facilitate homogenous drying and have a plurality of spacings located therebetween such that each of the contactor elements defines a contactor volume and each of the spacings defines a spacing volume. The DAC device has a total volume defined by the contactor volumes and the spacing volumes such that the DAC device is modifiable to (a) reduce the total volume for the contactor elements to facilitate desorption of one or more components of a feed stream and (b) increase the total volume for the contactor elements to facilitate adsorption of the one or more components of the feed stream. The homogenous drying capability allows the DAC device to more quickly and efficiently complete each adsorption or desorption cycle, since efficiency of the DAC device is reduced when portions of the contact elements are still wet when the next cycle begins.
In another example (“Example 2”) further to Example 1, the DAC device includes a plurality of flexible connection components disposed in the plurality of spacings.
In another example (“Example 3”) further to Example 2, the flexible connection components are spring components that exert reactionary force in response to the total volume being reduced in an opposite direction.
In another example (“Example 4”) further to Example 3, the spring components comprise at least one leaf spring spacer.
In another example (“Example 5”) further to Example 3, the spring components comprise at least one coil spring.
In another example (“Example 6”) further to Example 2, the flexible connection components are hinge components.
In another example (“Example 7”) further to Example 1, each of the contactor elements comprises a mating surface such that, when the DAC device is modified, the mating surface of each of the contactor elements forms a nested configuration with respect to the mating surface of an adjacent contactor element.
In another example (“Example 8”) further to Example 7, the mating surface is defined by a plurality of enlarged portions protruding from a surface of the contactor element such that each of the contactor elements is shifted out of phase with respect to the adjacent contactor element.
In another example (“Example 9”) further to Example 7, the mating surface is defined by a plurality of surface features formed on a surface of the contactor element such that each of the plurality of surface features of the contactor element is nested with respect to a corresponding one of the plurality of surface features of the adjacent contactor element.
In another example (“Example 10”) further to Example 9, the plurality of surface features include one or more of: pleats, corrugations, or depressions.
In another example (“Example 11”) further to Example 1, the device further includes a housing in which the contactor elements are disposed. The housing is modifiable between a first configuration in which the total volume of the DAC device has a reduced volume and a second configuration in which the total volume of the DAC device has an increased volume greater than the reduced volume.
In another example (“Example 12”) further to Example 11, the housing includes at least one spacing adjustment component.
In another example (“Example 13”) further to Example 12, the at least one spacing adjustment component is an adjustable housing wall that is adjustable to change the total volume of the DAC device within the housing between the reduced volume and the increased volume.
In another example (“Example 14”) further to Example 12, the at least one spacing adjustment component is a single adjustable separator separating an inner volume of the housing into: (a) a first volume defining a total volume of a first set of contactor elements, and (b) a second volume defining a total volume of a second set of contactor elements. The first volume and the second volume are reciprocal with respect to each other such that the separator is adjustable to facilitate either: (1) increasing the first volume and decreasing the second volume, or (2) decreasing the first volume and increasing the second volume.
In another example (“Example 15”) further to Example 11, the housing comprises a flexible frame that is compressible to change the total volume of the DAC device.
In another example (“Example 16”) further to Example 11, the housing comprises a first housing component and a second housing component slidably receivable within the first housing component to reduce the total volume of the DAC device.
In another example (“Example 17”) further to any one of Examples 1-16, each of the contactor elements comprises a sorbent material composite article having: (a) an adsorptive configuration in which the sorbent material composite article is disposed to adsorb one or more components of a feed stream, and (b) a desorptive configuration in which the sorbent material composite article is disposed to remove the one or more components from the sorbent material composite article. The sorbent material composite article comprises a composite of a sorbent and a flexible porous material to facilitate a transfiguration between an adsorptive configuration and a desorptive configuration of the sorbent material composite article.
In another example (“Example 18”) further to Example 17, the sorbent material composite article is flexibly expandable to form the desorptive configuration and flexibly compressible to form the adsorptive configuration.
In one example (“Example 19”), a system is disclosed which includes the DAC device further to any one of Examples 1-17, as well as a sensor that detects an environmental condition, a force application device that applies a force to change the total volume defined by the contactor volumes and the spacing volumes, and a controller that receives the detected environmental condition from the sensor and determine an amount of force applied by the force application device based on the environmental condition.
In another example (“Example 20”) further to Example 19, the system further includes a spacing apparatus that adjusts the plurality of spacings simultaneously and proportionally responsive to the force applied by the force application device.
In another example (“Example 21”) further to Example 19 or 20, the environmental condition includes at least one of: wind speed, humidity, or a pressure drop between an inlet and an outlet of the DAC device.
In one example (“Example 22”), a DAC device includes a housing, a continuous sheet of sorbent material composite article disposed within the housing, the continuous sheet having a length that is modifiable to form at least one rolled portion which facilitates desorption of one or more components of a feed stream and an unrolled portion adjacent to the rolled portion which facilitates adsorption of the one or more components of the feed stream, and a plurality of rollers that are disposed within the housing and contact a plurality of different sections along the length of the continuous sheet to modify the continuous sheet to change a configuration of each of the rolled and unrolled portions.
In another example (“Example 23”) further to Example 22, the housing comprises a desorption section housing therein the rolled portion of the continuous sheet and an adsorption section housing therein the unrolled portion of the continuous sheet.
In another example (“Example 24”) further to Example 23, the DAC device further includes a heating device that applies heat and vacuum only to the desorption section of the housing.
In another example (“Example 25”) further to any one of Examples 22-24, the continuous sheet is modifiable to form two rolled portions and the unrolled portion extending therebetween.
In another example (“Example 26”) further to any one of Examples 22-25, a portion of the plurality of rollers modify sections of the unrolled portion of the continuous sheet to straighten and form a zigzag configuration with a spacing located between two adjacent straightened sections of the continuous sheet.
In one example (“Example 27”), a method of controlling a DAC device includes: actuating the DAC device to create a spacing between any two of a plurality of contactor elements aligned with respect to each other to facilitate homogenous drying for the DAC device to receive an air flow. The DAC device facilitates adsorption and desorption of one or more components of the air flow; adjusting the plurality of contactor elements to align with a first direction of the air flow; and readjusting the plurality of contactor elements to align with a second direction of the air flow that is different from the first direction while maintaining the homogenous drying of the plurality of contactor elements.
In another example (“Example 28”) further to Example 27, the method further includes providing, by a sensor, a signal indicative of a change of the air flow from the first direction to the second direction.
In another example (“Example 29”) further to Example 27 or 28, the readjusting is performed at or near real-time.
In another example (“Example 30”) further to Example 29, the real-time adjusting is performed after completing the adsorption of the one or more components of the air flow and before initiating a subsequent desorption of the one or more components of the air flow following the adsorption.
In another example (“Example 31”) further to any one of Examples 27-30, the adjusting and the readjusting include changing the spacing between the plurality of contactor elements.
In another example (“Example 32”) further to Example 31, the DAC device has a total volume that is reducible by reducing the spacing to facilitate the desorption and is expandable by increasing the spacing to facilitate the adsorption.
The foregoing Examples are just that, and should not be read to limit or otherwise narrow the scope of any of the inventive concepts otherwise provided by the instant disclosure. While multiple examples are disclosed, still other embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which shows and describes illustrative examples. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature rather than restrictive in nature.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
This disclosure is not meant to be read in a restrictive manner. For example, the terminology used in the application should be read broadly in the context of the meaning those in the field would attribute such terminology.
With respect to terminology of inexactitude, the terms “about” and “approximately” may be used, interchangeably, to refer to a measurement that includes the stated measurement and that also includes any measurements that are reasonably close to the stated measurement. Measurements that are reasonably close to the stated measurement deviate from the stated measurement by a reasonably small amount as understood and readily ascertained by individuals having ordinary skill in the relevant arts. Such deviations may be attributable to measurement error, differences in measurement and/or manufacturing equipment calibration, human error in reading and/or setting measurements, minor adjustments made to optimize performance and/or structural parameters in view of differences in measurements associated with other components, particular implementation scenarios, imprecise adjustment and/or manipulation of objects by a person or machine, and/or the like, for example. In the event it is determined that individuals having ordinary skill in the relevant arts would not readily ascertain values for such reasonably small differences, the terms “about” and “approximately” can be understood to mean plus or minus 10% of the stated value.
The term “fibril” as used herein describes an elongated piece of material such as a polymer, where the length and width are substantially different from each other. For example, a fibril may resemble a piece of string or fiber, where the width (or thickness) is much shorter or smaller than the length.
The term “node” as used herein describes a connection point of at least two fibrils, where the connection may be defined as a location where the two fibrils come into contact with each other, permanently or temporarily. In some examples, a node may also be used to describe a larger volume of material than a fibril and where a fibril originates or terminates with no clear continuation of the same fibril through the node. In some examples, a node has a greater width but a smaller length than the fibril.
As used herein, “nodes” and “fibrils” may be used to describe objects that are usually, but not necessarily, connected or interconnected, and have a microscopic size, for example. A “microscopic” object may be defined as an object with at least one dimension (width, length, or height) that is substantially small such that the object or the detail of the object is not visible to the naked eye or difficult, if not impossible, to observe without the aid of a microscope (including but not limited to a scanning electron microscope or SEM, for example) or any suitable type of magnification device.
The present disclosure relates to devices for use in direct air capture (DAC) to adsorb and separate one or more desired substances from a source stream, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) from a dilute feed stream, such as air. Such DAC devices may also be used in other adsorbent methods and applications. These methods include, but are not limited to, adsorption of substances from various inputs, including other gas feed streams (e.g., combustion exhaust) and liquid feed streams (e.g., ocean water). The adsorbed substance is not limited to CO2. Other adsorbed substances may include, but are not limited to, other gas molecules (e.g., N2, CH4, and CO), liquid molecules, and solutes. In certain embodiments, the input may be dilute, containing on the order of parts per million (ppm) of the adsorbed substance.
An example of articles and techniques for DAC includes using an article including a substrate such as a monolith that can support or be coated with a sorbent material. Variations are established by changing the type of substrate and the sorbent that is used. However, these previously established articles and methods present limitations in the ability to efficiently cycle between adsorbing and desorbing states. They also have limitations with respect to the energy required to perform the process.
Many times, swing adsorption is a very energy intense process. Whether Pressure Swing, Temperature Swing or Moisture Swing, energy is needed during many of the phases of operation.
As an example, in Temperature-Vacuum Swing Adsorption (TVSA) for Direct Air Capture (DAC) of CO2, the adsorption step may require fans to force large volumes of air through an air contactor, such as ceramic monolith or plate-pack having a series of adjacent plates with a spacing therebetween. At a point when the operator deems it useful to begin desorption (usually when the contactor has adsorbed an amount of CO2), the fans may be turned off or deactivated to terminate the adsorption phase.
Once the adsorption phase terminates, the inlet and outlet of the module are closed, which provides a seal for negative pressure. Next, vacuum may be applied to evacuate air within the module and steam is applied to increase the temperature to the point where the sorbent releases CO2. This CO2 is then pumped out of the module space and is further processed to remove humidity. Of the aforementioned processes, the desorption step requires significant energy to heat and then cool the module. During desorption, the temperature in the entire module volume must be increased from ambient (which, depending on geographic location, may be extremely cold) to the temperature which facilitates CO2 removal from the sorbent. In many cases steam is used for this increase in temperature since steam is efficient at transferring heat to a substance. An object of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of a DAC system by providing a module which is capable of variable volume. As an example, the air contactor or module may have one volume during the adsorption step which allows air to flow through it at a very low pressure, thereby facilitating adsorption of CO2 and at least a second, reduced volume during the desorption step which provides an energy savings by reducing the amount of volume that needs to be increased in temperature. Reducing the volume will also reduce the energy required to apply negative pressure, although in some cases the negative pressure maybe the force that causes the volume reduction.
Similarly, in moisture swing and pressure swing adsorption processes, it is the desorption step that is typically the most energy intensive. In moisture swing, energy used in moving moisture to the contactor and energy used in drying the contactor once the CO2 is desorbed from it. In pressure swing, energy is used to apply pressure to the sorbent to cause the CO2 to release from it. In both cases it may also be beneficial to provide an air contactor or module which is capable of variable volume configurations. Current state air contactors and modules are deficient in this respect.
The contactor elements 102 have a plurality of spacings 104 located therebetween such that each of the contactor elements 102 defines a contactor volume, and each of the spacings defines a spacing volume. The contactor volume (Vcontactor) of a single contactor element, in some examples, may be defined as: Vcontactor=SA*T, where SA is the surface area of the contactor element, and T is the thickness of the contactor element. The spacing volume (Vspacing) of a single spacing may be defined, in some examples, as: Vspacing=SA*W, where W is the width of the spacing, or the distance between the two adjacent contactor elements defining the spacing. These calculations assumes that all contactor elements are identical, thereby having the same surface area, and disposed parallel to one another. The DAC device 100 has a total volume that is defined as the sum of all the contactor volumes and the spacing volumes. The DAC device 100 is also modifiable to (a) reduce the total volume in order for the contactor elements to facilitate desorption of one or more components of a feed stream, and (b) increase the total volume in order for the contactor elements to facilitate adsorption of the one or more components of the feed stream. In some examples, the spacings 104 are reduced in response to a force (F) applied to the contactor elements 102, for example from an external force application device, as further explained herein.
The contactor elements 102 may be formed using any suitable material such as expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE), expanded polyethylene (ePE), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), or any other suitable porous material. For example, the porous material may be rigid or flexible, for example ceramic, cellulose, or carbon fiber, etc. In some examples, the porous material may be a porous polymer. It will be appreciated that non-woven materials such as nanospun, meltblown, spunbond and porous cast films could be among the various other suitable porous polymer forms. The contactor elements 102 may be expanded by stretching the material at a controlled temperature and a controlled stretch rate, causing the material to fibrillate. Following expansion, the contactor elements 102 may comprise a microstructure of a plurality of nodes and a plurality of fibrils that connect adjacent nodes to include pores bordered by the fibrils and the nodes. An exemplary node and fibril microstructure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,566 to Gore, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The pores of the contactor elements 102 may be considered micropores. Such micropores may have a single pore size or a distribution of pore sizes. The average pores size may range from 0.1 microns to 100 microns in certain embodiments.
In various embodiments, the contactor elements 102 further includes any suitable carbon dioxide adsorbing material which may include, but is not limited to, an ion exchange resin (e.g., a strongly basic anion exchange resin such as Dowex™ Marathon™ A resin available from Dow Chemical Company), zeolite, activated carbon, alumina, metal-organic frameworks, polyethyleneimine (PEI), or another suitable carbon dioxide adsorbing material, such as desiccant, carbon molecular sieve, carbon adsorbent, graphite, activated alumina, molecular sieve, aluminophosphate, silicoaluminophosphate, zeolite adsorbent, ion exchanged zeolite, hydrophilic zeolite, hydrophobic zeolite, modified zeolite, natural zeolites, faujasite, clinoptilolite, mordenite, metal-exchanged silico-aluminophosphate, uni-polar resin, bi-polar resin, aromatic cross-linked polystyrenic matrix, brominated aromatic matrix, methacrylic ester copolymer, graphitic adsorbent, carbon fiber, carbon nanotube, nano-materials, metal salt adsorbent, perchlorate, oxalate, alkaline earth metal particle, ETS, CTS, metal oxide, chemisorbent, amine, organo-metallic reactant, hydrotalcite, silicalite, zeolitic imidazolate framework and metal organic framework (MOF) adsorbent compounds, and combinations thereof.
The housing 400 may be configured such that there is minimal spacing between the outer edges of the contactor elements 102 and the inner surface of the housing 400, in which case an inner volume of the housing 400 may be used to define the total volume of the DAC device 100. In some examples, the housing 400 includes a spacing adjustment component, which in the figure is an adjustable housing wall 404 that is adjustable to change the total volume of the DAC device within the housing 400 as shown in
For example, in the adsorptive configuration 106 as shown in
The DAC device 100 incorporating the sheet 800 includes both the adsorptive configuration 106 and the desorptive configuration 108 in the sheet 800. That is, the sheet 800 experiences adsorption and desorption simultaneously at different portions thereof. For example, the DAC device 100 includes a plurality of rollers 802 disposed within the housing 400 such that these rollers 802 contact a plurality of different sections along the length of the sheet 800 to modify the sheet 800 in order to change a configuration of each of the rolled portion 804 and the unrolled portion 806. The housing 400 includes two sections: the adsorption section 400A where adsorption of the components from the feed stream 808 takes place, and the desorption section 400B where desorption of the components from the feed stream 808 takes place. The sheet 800 can transition between these two sections 400A and 400B of the housing 400.
When the force F is applied to one of the rollers 802 that is coupled with the end portion of the sheet 800, the roller 802 begins turning in a first direction as shown (e.g., clockwise) in
In some examples, a space 812 inside the desorption section 400B of the housing 400 may be heated or vacuum may be applied to the space 812, in order to facilitate desorption. In some examples, the heat or vacuum may be applied directly to the rolled portion(s) 804A and/or 804B, which may be achieved using a full drum of spooled sheet 800 as the spool rollers. For example, the drum of sheet 800 may be a porous drum which allows vacuum to be applied, as well as steam and heat, as appropriate.
It is to be understood that, although
In some examples, the flexible frame 1100 may be made of one or more flexible materials (including but not limited to elastomeric polymers), one or more rigid materials (including but not limited to metals and plastic polymers), or a combination thereof. For example, the corrugated portions of the frame 1100 may be made of a flexible material, while the portion of the frame adjacent to the two contactor elements 102 at the two ends of the DAC device 100 may be made of a rigid material. For example, the corrugated portions of the frame 1100 may be made of a rigid material which can compress or expand using hinge components as disclosed herein. Any other variation or combination of such materials can be used to form the flexible frame 1100.
It is to be understood that, although
As used herein, the DAC devices 100 use contactor elements 102 or continuous sheets 800 that are made of at least one sorbent material composite article, where the article can assume (a) the adsorptive configuration 106 in which the sorbent material composite article is disposed to adsorb one or more components of a feed stream 808, and (b) the desorptive configuration 108 in which the sorbent material composite article is disposed to remove one or more components from the sorbent material composite article. In some examples, the sorbent material composite article may include a composite of a sorbent and a flexible porous material to facilitate a transfiguration between the adsorptive configuration 106 and the desorptive configuration 108 of the sorbent material composite article. In some examples, the sorbent material composite article is flexibly expandable to form the desorptive configuration 108 and flexibly compressible to form the adsorptive configuration 106.
The force application device 1304 can apply the force F either directly to the contactor elements 102 (or the continuous sheets 800 in some examples) or to a spacing apparatus or actuator 1308 coupled to the contactor elements 102 (or continuous sheets 800) and in turn causes the contactor elements 102 to change their positions. For example, the spacing apparatus or actuator 1308 may be a pantograph-type actuator shown in
When the force F is applied either to one of the contactor elements 102 or to the actuator 1308, such as by pinching or closing the X-shaped portion or the rhombus-shaped portion between two adjacent X-shaped portions. As such, even without the use of other flexible connection components such as the leaf spring spacers 200 or the coil springs 300, the actuator 1308 can maintain equal spacing 104 between adjacent contactor elements 102, or adjust the spacings 104 simultaneously and proportionally in response to the force F applied by the force application device 1304. Also, as the actuator 1308 contracts longitudinally (that is, when reducing the total volume of the DAC device 100), it extends latitudinally, thereby causing the contactor elements 102 to expand lengthwise. The actuator 1308 may be made using any suitable rigid material including but not limited to metals or rigid plastic polymers.
The controller 1306 may include one or more computing devices having non-transient computer readable storage media, processors or processing circuits, and communication hardware. The controller 1306 may be a single device or a distributed device, and the functions of the controller may be performed by hardware and/or by processing instructions stored on non-transitory machine-readable storage media. Example processors may include, but are not limited to, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), or a microprocessor including firmware. Exemplary non-transitory computer readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk storage, electronically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), electronically programmable ROM (EPROM), magnetic disk storage, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store processing instructions and data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other processing device.
In some examples, the air flow or feed stream 808 may change directionality over time, such as due to a change in wind direction or other environmental conditions. Therefore, the readjustment performed in step 1606 is to accommodate such change in the environment while still providing the opportunity for the contactor elements 102 to dry in a homogenous way, such that all contactor elements 102 can dry at a relatively equal rate with respect to each other, thus reducing the likelihood of some of the contactors remaining wet and possibly negatively affecting the performance of the other contactors.
In some examples, between steps 1604 and 1606 may be an additional step 1608 in which the sensor 1302 provides a signal indicative of a change of the air flow or feed stream 808 from the first direction to the second direction, thus allowing the adjustment and readjustment to take place based on the sensor measurements. In some examples, the readjustment of step 1606 may be performed at or near real-time. That is, the sensor 1302 constantly provides updated measurement data for the controller 1306 to make changes to the positions of the contactor elements 102 as soon as (or within a reasonably short amount of time from when) the change in the environment is detected. In some examples, the readjustment may be performed in less than 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or any other suitable range or value therebetween, from when the change in the environment takes place. In some examples, the sensor 1302 may take a reading or measurement at a time interval that is at or less than 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, minutes, or any other suitable range or value therebetween.
In some examples, the real-time adjustment of step 1606 may be performed after completing the adsorption of the one or more components of the air flow or feed stream 808 and before initiating a subsequent desorption of the one or more components of the air flow or feed stream 808, following the adsorption. As such, the cycle of adsorption and desorption can be continued without interruption to increase the efficiency of the DAC device 100. As disclosed herein, the adjusting of step 1604 and the readjusting of step 1606 may include changing the spacing 104 between the plurality of contactor elements 102. Furthermore, the DAC device 100 may have a total volume that is reducible by reducing the spacing to facilitate the desorption (in desorptive configuration 108) and is expandable by increasing the spacing to facilitate the adsorption (in adsorptive configuration 106), as disclosed herein.
Beneficially, gas separation by adsorption has many different applications in industry, for example removing a specific component from a gas stream, where the desired product can either be the component removed from the stream, the remaining depleted stream, or both. Thereby, both trace components as well as major components of the gas stream can be targeted by the adsorption process. One important gas separation application is in capturing CO2 from gas streams, e.g., from flue gases, exhaust gases, industrial waste gases, biogas or atmospheric air. Atmospheric air is considered a dilute feed stream of CO2. The DAC devices as disclosed herein can facilitate more efficient adsorption and desorption processes by reducing energy requirements (through volume reduction), uniformly drying the contactor elements as well as to facilitate continuous adsorption and desorption with as little downtime as possible.
Various modifications and additions can be made to the exemplary embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, while the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of this disclosure also includes embodiments having different combinations of features and embodiments that do not include all of the described features. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications, and variations as fall within the scope of the claims, together with all equivalents thereof.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/343,758, filed May 19, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63343758 | May 2022 | US |