An
illustration depicting the Georgia Tech team’s strategy for green
transport. The researchers have developed a device that harnesses CO2
emissions from a vehicle, liquifies it and stores it. The CO2 is later
collected during refuelling and transported to a facility, where it is
converted into a synthetic liquid fuel – using water and renewable
energy – to complete the cycle
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a
strategy to capture, store and eventually recycle carbon from vehicles
to prevent the pollutant from reaching the atmosphere. The researchers
envision a zero emission car, and a transportation system completely
free of fossil fuels.
Nearly two-thirds of global carbon
emissions are created by small polluters: automobiles, transportation
vehicles and distributed industrial power generation applications, such
as diesel power generators, etc.
“We wanted to create a
sustainable and practical energy strategy for automobiles that could
use renewable energy sources and in an environmentally-conscious way,”
said Andrei Fedorov, an associate professor of mechanical engineering
and lead researcher on the project.
Separating CO2
To
achieve this, the US-based team has created a fuel processor – called
CO2/H2 Active Membrane Piston (CHAMP) reactor – capable of efficiently
producing hydrogen, and separating and liquefying CO2 from synthetic
liquid fuel used by an internal combustion engine or fuel cell.
Upon
separation, the hydrogen can be used to power the hydrogen-fuelled
vehicle. The team chose such types of vehicles because they produce no
carbon emissions.
After the carbon dioxide is separated from the
hydrogen, it can then be stored in liquefied state on-board the
vehicle. The liquid state provides a much more stable and dense form of
carbon, which is easy to store and transport to a refuelling station.
Once
deposited at the fuelling station, the liquid carbon dioxide is piped
back to a facility where it is converted into a synthetic liquid fuel
to complete the cycle.
Problems and solutions
Traditional
combustion systems, including current gasoline-powered automobiles,
have a combustion process that combines fuel and air – leaving the
carbon dioxide emissions. CHAMP produces the hydrogen on-board the
vehicle from the hydrocarbon fuel without introducing air into the
process, resulting in an enriched carbon by-product that can be
captured with minimal waste.
“We had to look for a system that
never dilutes fuel with air because once the CO2 is diluted, it is not
practical to capture it on vehicles or other small systems,” said David
Damm, the lead author on the paper and Fedorov’s collaborator on the
project.
Another benefit of the technology is that liquid-based
hydrogen carriers could be conveniently transported and stored using
existing fuel infrastructure, thus saving on costs..
Now, the
greatest remaining challenge to a truly carbon-free transportation
system is a method for making synthetic liquid fuel from just CO2 and
water using renewable energy sources, Fedorov said. The team is
exploring a few ideas in this area, he added.
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