Scientists at EPFL have developed an energy-efficient graphene-based carbon dioxide filter that can extract carbon dioxide out of a gas mix, to then be either stored or converted into useful chemicals.
Professor Kumar Varoon Agrawal at EPFL's School of Basic Sciences (EPFL Valais Wallis) has led a team of chemical engineers to develop the world's thinnest filter from graphene. "Our approach was simple," says Agrawal. "We made carbon dioxide-sized holes in graphene, which allowed carbon dioxide to flow through while blocking other gases such as nitrogen, which are larger than carbon dioxide." The result is a record-high carbon dioxide-capture performance.
For comparison, current filters are required to exceed 1000 gas permeation units (GPUs), while their carbon-capturing specificity, referred to as their "carbon dioxide/nitrogen separation factor" must be above 20. The membranes that the EPFL scientists developed show more than ten-fold higher carbon dioxide permeance at 11,800 GPUs, while their separation factor stands at 22.5.
"We estimate that this technology will drop the cost of carbon capture close to $30 per ton of carbon dioxide, in contrast to commercial processes where the cost is two-to-four time higher," says Agrawal. His team is now working on scaling up the process by developing a pilot plant demonstrator to capture 10 kg carbon dioxide per day, in a project funded by the Swiss government and Swiss industry.