Abstract
The threat of global climate change has brought considerable attention to the need for a reduction in anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The most significant sources for CO2 emissions are electric power plants, accounting for around 35% of global emissions. Unlike transportation emissions, a collection of millions of small sources of CO2, there are only ca. 7300 electricity generation sites across the U.S., while more than 50% of emissions come from the largest 250 plants. These relatively few high emission sites are prime targets for immediate action towards the reduction of CO2 released into the Earth’s atmosphere. As energy demands are steadily rising and supply is met through the combustion of fossil fuels, there is motivation to study methods that separate and concentrate CO2 from power plant flue gas. Captured CO2 can be injected into existing geological formations or oil reservoirs, which can dramatically increase the productivity of previously depleted wells as well as allow the simultaneous, permanent, and safe storage of CO2. CO2 could also be used as an industrial solvent, or used to produce fuels, potentially creating new economic opportunities and jobs.
Low-temperature anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrochemical reactors are relatively unexplored, yet promising, devices for CO2 separation and utilization from power plant flue gas. In these devices, oxygen and CO2 are electrochemically reduced to carbonates, which are transported through the AEM to the anode where they are electrolyzed back to CO2 and O2 (so-called CO2 pumping). These carbonates can also be used for simultaneous electrosynthesis and CO2 separation (i.e. methane can be partially oxidized to methanol). During this talk, several scientific and engineering questions will be explored including: the impacts of carbonate anions on AEMs, the development of high selectivity, carbonate-active catalysts and electrodes, and carbonate vs. bicarbonate reaction dynamics. Specific to CO2 pumping, the energetics and dynamics of electrochemical CO2 separation will be explored and a preliminary techno-economic analysis will be presented that explores both the energy and capital costs of the system to show the promise of AEM-based electrochemical separators to meet cost targets at the 500 MW power plant scale. Significant opportunities remain for rapid and transformational innovations in component and cell design, operation, system costs, and performance
Biography
William (Bill) Mustain earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with Jai Prakash at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2006. He then spent two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Paul Kohl’s research group at Georgia Tech. Professor Mustain joined the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Connecticut in 2008 as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2013. Over the past twelve years, Professor Mustain has worked in several areas related to electrochemical energy generation and storage including: high capacity materials for Li-ion batteries, catalysts and supports for proton exchange membrane and anion exchange membrane fuel cells and electrolyzers, the purposeful use of carbonates in low temperature electrochemical systems, and the electrochemical conversion and utilization of methane and CO2. Professor Mustain has been the PI or Co-PI on over $5M of externally funded research projects. He has published ~ 70 peer reviewed articles to date and has over 90 invited and conference talks. He also has authored two book chapters and three pending US patents. He has been the recipient of several awards including the 2009 Illinois Institute of Technology Young Alumnus Award, 2013 U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award, 2014 Connecticut Quality Improvement Platinum Award, 2014 Supramaniam Srinivasan Young Investigator Award (Awarded by the Energy Technology Division of the Electrochemical Society) and 2015-2016 Fulbright Scholar Fellowship.