Microcapsules containing a liquid carbonate solvent could capture carbon dioxide from power plants more efficiently than existing methods.
Currently, CO2 is captured at power plants by passing the flue gas over a solution of liquid monoethanolamine. The liquid is corrosive, forms toxic by-products and must be heated to high temperatures to recover the CO2 and regenerate the solvent. Jennifer Lewis at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and her colleagues created microcapsules made of a highly porous silicone skin containing a carbonate solvent. These solvents absorb CO2 slowly, but encapsulation of solvent boosts the absorption rate tenfold (compared to pools of liquid carbonate) by increasing the surface area.
The capsules (pictured) are chemically stable and environmentally benign, and CO2 can be recovered by modest heating.
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Capsules collect carbon dioxide. Nature 518, 140 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/518140a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/518140a
