ESG Clean Energy plans on implementing this technology across all its planned facilities and has licensed the technology to a subsidiary of Camber Energy (NYSE (Amex): CEI) for all of Canada and multiple locations in the United States.
ESG Clean Energy’s system treats the exhaust stream to remove the water vapor before it is treated for capturing CO2. This patented system consists of an advanced ceramic membrane that has been incorporated into a unique mechanical cooling system. With this technology, capturing carbon dioxide becomes both low cost and energy efficient. It can be used on both large and small systems and can be retrofitted onto current operating power plants.
Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel emissions has historically been an expensive and energy intensive process. Fossil fuel emissions consist of a mixture of gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and water vapor. Separating and capturing the carbon dioxide in a gas mixture like this can be difficult. However, there are materials that have been developed that will selectively attach or react with the CO2 while letting the other gases pass by – except for the water
vapor.
Water gets in the exhaust steam because it is actually a byproduct of combustion. When fossil fuel burns it makes three things heat, carbon dioxide, and water. The problem is water molecules interfere with the carbon capture process. Several scientific studies have shown how water negatively affects CO2 capture. For example, a study done by ETH Zurich Institute of Process Engineering and Stanford University stated, “In all carbon capture processes the feed steam contains water vapor, which interferes with the mechanisms involved in the adsorption of CO2.”
Another example is a study published in Applied Materials on the Challenge of Water Competition in Physical Adsorption of CO2 stated, “The option to physically adsorb CO2 in the presence of water is challenging.”
That same study also stated, “The fundamental nature of water typically renders it much more attached to surfaces, and to itself, when compared to CO2.”