Great Country Academician

Porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture system.

This is the latest major breakthrough technology of Chuanhai Materials Research Institute, and it is also the surprise prepared by Fan Pengyue for Xu Chuan.

Looking at the huge equipment in front of him, Xu Chuan said with interest in his eyes: "Tell me about it."

The conversion of carbon dioxide into oxygen, starch, glucose, gasoline, graphene and other materials is not a cutting-edge technology. These conversion technologies actually had complete routes more than ten years ago, and have been successfully tested in laboratories in various countries.

Of course, energy-saving and efficient conversion technology is still a difficult problem.

But that's not the point.

The key problem with this technology is how to capture the meager proportion of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

To realize a decarbonized society, not only the high-concentration carbon dioxide emitted by factories and the like, but also the recovery of low-concentration carbon dioxide in the air, that is, direct air carbon capture, is also key.

This is the most difficult part. He is very curious about how the Sichuan and Sea Materials Research Institute does it and how efficient it can be.

Master Xiong Fan Pengyue nodded and introduced: "The porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture system is a device that integrates carbon dioxide capture and conversion."

"It uses a technology that combines ion exchange membrane + isophorone diamine and is driven by electricity to capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In air with a concentration of 400ppm, the ability to remove carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeds 99%!"

"That is to say, in the current atmospheric environment, its carbon dioxide filtration and adsorption capacity is as high as more than 99%. Depending on the concentration, it is twenty to fifty times more than ordinary carbon dioxide adsorption technologies or materials on the market. Even the smallest Excellent amine materials are only about one-fifth to one-tenth of them."

Hearing this explanation, Xu Chuan was a little surprised: "With a concentration of 400PPM, the adsorption index can reach 99%?"

This value is a bit awesome.

No, it can be said to be extremely awesome.

It should be known that the adsorption efficiency of conventional substances such as ion exchange membranes and chemical solvents is generally only in the single digits. Even for specific solvents with excellent performance, the adsorption efficiency is generally only a dozen locations.

The adsorption efficiency is 99%, and it is still in a normal atmospheric environment.

This concept, even Xu Chuan, has to say, ‘Awesome! ’

Beside him, Senior Brother Fan had a smile on his face and said, "Otherwise, how could I tell you it was a surprise?"

As he spoke, he walked up to the porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture equipment in front of him, knocked on the internal ion exchange membrane material protected by an isolation net, and then said:

"The carbon dioxide absorbed by isophorone diamine can combine with it to form sheets of solid urethane material that can be easily removed from the original liquid."

"The method for separating carbon dioxide is also very simple, that is, heating it to above 60 degrees, then the adsorbed carbon dioxide inside can be converted into a gaseous state again, which will also release the original liquid isophorone diamine material. Re-enter the system and use it again.”

"Furthermore, isophorone diamine has high durability. After the current experiment for more than forty-eight hours, it can continue to absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with an efficiency of more than 99%, even after repeatedly absorbing and releasing carbon dioxide at least a hundred times. No performance degradation was observed and it can be used repeatedly.”

"As for the separated carbon dioxide, it can subsequently be preserved in solid or gas form. It can be stored or reused in industrial or chemical processes."

"In addition, it can be connected to a carbon dioxide conversion device, which can convert it into starch, oxygen, glucose and other substances directly inside this equipment."

"But to integrate the entire replacement device into the porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture device, we need to make it larger."

"Another disadvantage is that the price of isophorone diamine is not cheap. According to the current market price, it will cost about two hundred yuan per kilogram."

"One kilogram of isophorone diamine material, based on the highest adsorption efficiency, can only cover an adsorption area of ​​about two square meters. Any larger, and the adsorption efficiency will be reduced."

"In addition, during the absorption and release process, due to heating, a very small amount of isophorone diamine material will be lost. These are considered shortcomings."

"But we are looking for ways to reduce its synthesis cost."

Xu Chuan nodded and said with satisfaction: "It's already very good."

The development of carbon capture and reuse technologies is important for hard-to-decarbonize industries such as steel, cement and fertilizer manufacturing, but is prohibitively expensive.

Although two hundred soft sister coins per kilogram is indeed a bit expensive, with such a high-efficiency adsorption capacity, I believe many factories will pay for it.

Moreover, the captured and adsorbed carbon dioxide is a resource in itself, which can bring in income whether it is used for industrial purposes or sold directly to other manufacturers.

Although it is not a lot, over time, this income is still considerable.

It is just like photovoltaic power generation or traditional nuclear fission power generation. The initial investment is relatively large, but once completed, it can continue to generate benefits for a long time.

In addition, in addition to industrial applications, this technology is also very suitable for large cities.

Because of dense population and industrialization, the carbon dioxide content in large cities is far higher than that in other areas.

If the average carbon dioxide concentration in the earth's atmosphere is 0.04%, then the carbon dioxide concentration in large cities can reach more than 0.07% (700PPM), or even higher.

An atmosphere with high carbon dioxide content will inevitably cause a more serious greenhouse effect.

In summer, when the temperature in rural areas is 30 degrees, in cities it can exceed 35 degrees, or even higher.

This is inevitable whether at home or abroad.

If porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture systems are deployed in batches in cities, when the concentration of carbon dioxide is greatly reduced, the greenhouse effect will naturally be weakened.

As the temperature drops, cities naturally become more livable.

In addition to its applications on Earth, more importantly, in Xu Chuan's plan, this technology itself was not developed for the Earth.

It is one of the technologies being developed for Mars terraforming.

For this kind of interstellar immigration-oriented technology, no matter how high the cost is, as long as it is not so high that it exceeds the cost of transporting materials from the earth, it is acceptable.

It has to be said that the Sichuan-Hai Materials Research Institute did bring him a huge surprise this time.

It seems that the work arrangements in the aerospace field and the exploration of Mars can be moved forward.

Looking at the porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture equipment in front of him, Xu Chuan thought for a while and then asked: "How much impact does it have on the surrounding area? Have you tested it?"

Fan Pengyue looked over, somewhat confused: "How big is the impact on the surrounding area? What do you mean?"

Xu Chuan thought for a moment, then changed his explanation and said: "To put it simply, after deploying a porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture device, approximately how large an area can it purify?"

Hearing this question, Fan Pengyue shook his head and said: "This has not been tested in detail yet. After all, this is just a laboratory product. If we want to do this kind of test, we may need to modify one floor or more of a building. "

"And the flow rate of external air also has an impact on its purification range. After all, this equipment relies on contact properties to adsorb and capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

After a pause, he continued: "Purification efficiency is based on the contact area."

"Based on the current experimental data, one square meter of ion exchange membrane + isophorone diamine can achieve a purification speed of about 0.03 tons per hour, which is about 100 cubic meters. The faster the air passing through, The adsorption and capture capacity for carbon dioxide is lower.”

Hearing this answer, Xu Chuan frowned and asked: "The air purification speed of one hundred cubic meters per hour is considered fast or slow?"

He really didn't know much about the speed of air purification.

However, he was not very satisfied with this purification speed.

too slow.

One square meter is one hundred cubic meters per hour. For a city, this speed is outrageously slow.

Not to mention that if it is applied to Mars in the future, the entire atmosphere of Mars will be transformed.

Taking the earth as an example, the total mass of the earth's atmosphere is about six quadrillion tons. Based on a simple calculation based on the thickness of the atmosphere and the average gas density, it is about 468440060000 cubic kilometers.

Calculate according to this number

Forget it, he didn't even want to forget it, he wouldn't be able to purify it completely even in the years and months of the monkey.

Even if the atmosphere of Mars is much thinner than that of Earth, the sheer amount of engineering required to transform a planet is unimaginable.

Before facing the planetary scale, the speed of purifying one hundred cubic meters per ton of air per square meter per hour is really too slow.

Beside him, Fan Pengyue replied: "The purification speed of one hundred cubic meters per square meter is not very fast. It is almost the total amount of air that an ordinary air purifier can purify in one hour."

"However, for those air purifiers with excellent performance, the number of cubic meters of air that can be purified per hour can reach five to ten times more."

"Of course, the two situations are different and it is difficult to compare them."

"Most of the air purifiers use particulate matter or solid purification materials, which can pass through the air at a faster speed."

"Isophoronediamine is in a liquid form, and it's difficult to move it through air at higher speeds."

Xu Chuan nodded and said: "Can isophorone diamine be changed into a solid state without affecting or less weakening its ability to adsorb and capture carbon dioxide?"

"The purification speed of one hundred cubic meters per hour is a bit too slow."

Fan Pengyue thought for a while and said: "It's more difficult, but you can try it here at the research institute."

Xu Chuan thought for a while and said, "Well, you can try the high-pressure and low-temperature direction. I remember that most amine substances will appear solid in this type of environment."

"You can also try combining it with other compounds. Don't worry too much about reducing performance. As long as it doesn't drop significantly, it is feasible to exchange for faster purification capabilities through higher air flow rates."

"According to my requirements, one cubic meter of area must have an adsorption rate of at least 2,000 cubic meters per hour."

Hearing this, Fan Pengyue pulled his lips and smiled bitterly, and said: "Maybe we have to find new materials. Isophorone diamine may not be able to meet the demand."

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "That doesn't matter. Isophorone diamine is enough for use on the earth. There is still enough time to optimize or develop new materials."

"Don't worry about the funding, but how many people are working on this project now?"

Fan Pengyue thought for a while and said, "The total R\u0026D team for carbon dioxide utilization technology is 43 people, but there are multiple projects, and the R\u0026D team for the porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture system has only 14 people."

Xu Chuan said without hesitation, "With the increase in manpower, the total team will be expanded to 150 people, and the R\u0026D team for the porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture system will be expanded to at least 50 people."

"If the number of people in the institute is not enough, we will recruit from outside, and focus on the efficient capture of carbon dioxide."

Xu Chuan knew very well that how to capture carbon dioxide from the air was the core of this technology, and the core technology accounted for one-third of the total number of R\u0026D teams, which was not much.

Fan Pengyue nodded and said, "Okay, I'll write it down. Are there any other arrangements?"

Xu Chuan thought for a while and said, "No, but let's run this device once to see its specific performance. Also, give me a copy of the complete experimental data, which is useful to me."

Brother Fan nodded and shouted to the laboratory, asking several busy researchers to stop their work and prepare to test the porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide capture.

This is not a difficult process. The laboratory has a complete ventilation system, which can quickly replace the air in the room that has been purified by carbon dioxide once because of the previous experiment with the air outside.

And the opening of the porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide collector does not make much noise.

However, due to the rigor of the experiment, the laboratory will be sealed during the overall experiment, including the experimenters and the equipment that produces carbon dioxide will all be turned off to avoid interference with the capture and purification effect of carbon dioxide.

The time is not very long. It only took a few minutes for the porous liquid DAC carbon dioxide collector used in the experiment to filter the air inside the entire laboratory.

After the purification and filtration work was completed, the monitoring equipment inside the laboratory automatically collected gas from several points and analyzed its composition, and the results came out soon.

Looking at the report in his hand, Xu Chuan nodded with satisfaction.

From the data of point sampling, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air after rotation in the laboratory has dropped from the original 582.76PPM to.

This efficiency of capturing carbon dioxide can be said to surpass all carbon dioxide adsorption equipment on the market, and the efficiency is amazingly high.