A new grant from the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy solidifies Ohio State University's leading role in carbon capture research. A team led by Distinguished Professor of Engineering Winston Ho will receive $3 million to develop and test innovative membranes for carbon dioxide capture from flue gas.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry recently announced eight projects receiving nearly $24 million in Department of Energy (DOE) funds for cost-shared research and development for Novel and Enabling Carbon Capture Transformational Technologies. The selected projects will focus on the development of solvent, sorbent, and membrane technologies to address scientific challenges and knowledge gaps associated with reducing the cost of carbon capture.
Flue gas refers to the combustion exhaust gas produced at fossil fuel power plants. And while membranes that can remove carbon dioxide from industrial gases are not new, there are no commercially available membranes to capture CO2from flue gas with marketable incentives. Professor Ho and his team have developed one of the most cost-effective membranes to date. In the lab, their spiral-wound polymer membrane modules demonstrate high carbon dioxide permeance and selectivity for enhanced gas separation.