HOUSTON: An Indian American scientist has developed a new screening method to separate carbon dioxide from its source more efficiently.
Mr Amitesh Maiti, a researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has devised a computational screening method using ionic liquid solvent to enhance the process of carbon dioxide (CO2) separation, a step known as 'carbon capture'.
Ionic liquids, a type of salt that melts at 100° Celsius, have advantages over traditional solvents for the separation of CO2 from its polluting source such as flue gas because they are highly stable, non-corrosive and do not evaporate even at high tempe rature.
Current carbon capture technology is based on a general purpose solvent monoethanolamine (MEA), which chemically absorbs CO2. However, it is a non-selective corrosive which requires large-scale equipment and it works only under low to moderate partial pr essure of CO2.
“With ionic liquids serving as the solvent, the process could be a lot cleaner and more accessible than that used today,” says Mr Amitesh. There is also a huge choice of ions, which could potentially be optimised for CO2 capture.
“By creating a computational tool that can decipher ahead of time which ionic liquids work best to separate CO2, it can be a much more efficient process when field tests are conducted,” he added.