Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Optimal Molecular Design Of Poly (Ionic Liquids) For Co2 Capture From The Atmosphere, Kun Ge, Tao Wang

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) are promising CO₂ adsorption materials for that they combine the unique properties of ionic liquids with the flexibility and properties of macromolecular architectures. Previous studies have demonstrated that a carbonated-functionalized quaternary ammonium based PIL could adsorb CO₂ from atmosphere when dry and release CO2 when wet, which constituted a moisture swing cycle, which provides an economical approach for air capture. Moreover, the performance of the PIL (such as CO₂ affinity, reaction kinetics, swing size and hydrophobicity), could be improved owing to its fine tunability. To find out its optimal structure, molecular simulation was …

Pathway To Achieve Negative Co2 Emissions - Combining Biomass With Ccs, Antti Arasto, Janne Karki, Kristin Onarheim

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The urgency to stabilize the global temperature rise at 1.5°C as highlighted in Paris COP21 and the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report calls for solutions that can remove CO2 from the atmosphere. The ability of carbon negative processes to offset historic emissions and emissions across different sectors is also highlighted in recent scenarios by IEA and WEC. Achieving negative CO₂ emissions by removing CO₂ from the atmosphere is possible by applying carbon capture in processes utilizing biomass (bio-CCS). Biomass has the capability of withdrawing and storing atmospheric CO₂. As a result, CO₂ released during biomass thermo-chemical …

Co2 Mitigation Opportunities In China, Wayne Xu

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Over the past thirty years China has focused on urbanization and economic growth through rapid development and modernization of its manufacturing capability. Much of this growth was achieved though massive adoption of coal based power generation with industry and manufacturing accounting for over 70% of all electricity consumption. Although the use of coal and other hydrocarbons have successfully fueled China into an era of prosperity and global recognition, it has come at a cost to the environment and quality of life. Significant efforts to reduce coal based generation emissions have recently been achieved through the development and adoption of world …

Carboncycle And Other Profitable Strategies For Air Capture Of Co2, Deane Little

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Development of an effective and economically viable strategy for air capture of CO2 would be a game-changing development in the fight against global warming. If widely adopted such a process would allow “chemostatting” the atmosphere at sustainable CO2 levels and might not require widespread social change in how we use fossil fuels. Unfortunately the concept that air capture of CO2 “doesn’t work” has taken hold in academic and policy circles, based on the assumption that such a process is inherently expensive and results in no useful products. In fact, air capture of CO2 can be profitable and offers fundamental advantages …

Metal Oxides With Ionic-Electronic Conductivity For Thermochemical Energy Storage, Eric Coker, Sean Babiniec, Andrea Ambrosini, James Miller

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

One of the key approaches to developing a supply of renewable energy is Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). However, the diurnal and intermittent nature of the solar resource necessitates efficient energy storage solutions if a reliable energy supply is to be expected. By increasing the temperature and energy density of thermal storage, improvements in power cycle efficiency and energy storage cost are possible and can result in increased economic competitiveness. Thermochemical energy storage (TCES) holds promise for enabling this goal. Metal oxides (MOs), with their elegantly simple reduction/re-oxidation (redox) chemistry, approach an ideal medium for TCES in many respects. For instance, …

Kinetic Enhancement Of Adsorbent For Co2 Capture From Atmosphere By Porous Material, Tao Wang, Jun Liu, Kun Ge, Zhongyang Luo

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Strategies for stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations will need to consider future CO2 emissions from an enormous resource of worldwide fossil fuel supplies and a diverse range of mitigation technologies. In 2013, global CO2 emissions due to fossil fuel use (and cement production) were 36 gigatonnes (Gt CO2), and are projected to increase by an additional 2.5% in 2014. Even if all emissions from large fixed sources could be captured, the roughly 30-50% of global emissions due to transportation and mobile sources would still be released into the atmosphere. To ensure the concentration of atmospheric CO2 in the scope of …

Potential Effects Of Climate Change On Ecologically Relevant Streamflow Regimes, Sulochan Dhungel, David G. Tarboton, Jiming Jin, Charles P. Hawkins

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

We assessed the climate-driven changes in ecologically relevant flow regimes expected to occur by the year 2100 in streams across the conterminous United States. We used long-term daily flow measurements from 601 gauged streams whose watersheds were in relatively natural condition to characterize spatial variation in 16 flow regime variables selected for their ecological importance. Principal component analysis of these 16 variables produced five uncorrelated factors that described patterns of spatial covariation in flow regimes. These five factors were associated with low flow, magnitude, flashiness, timing, and constancy characteristics of the daily flow regime. We applied hierarchical clustering to the …

Optimizing Chemical & Rheological Properties Of Rejuvenated Bitumen, Dominic Nguyen, Hamzeh Haghshenas Fatmehsari, Santosh Kommidi, Yong-Rak Kim

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Bitumen has long been a material used in the construction of roadways, yet new pavement only consists of low fractions of recycled materials due to poor compatibility of aged bitumen and new materials. Thus, rejuvenators, chemical additives, have been used in an attempt to re-balance the chemical composition and restore the physical properties of aged bitumen back to its virgin state. A fundamental understanding of how one particular rejuvenator, soybean oil, revitalizes bitumen was investigated using a multi-scale approach.

Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to determine the changes in chemical properties of pure and rejuvenated virgin and aged samples. …

Factors That Impact The Co2 Mitigation Potential Of Cogeneration, Carl Bozzuto

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Cogeneration systems that produce both heat and power are being promoted as a means of improving the overall energy efficiency around the world, especially in the industrial and power sectors. Claims are often made regarding dramatic improvements in efficiency for such systems. For example, a cogeneration system is advertised as being 85% efficient, while, for example, the U.S. grid is only 31% efficient. However, comparing such efficiency figures directly can be misleading. An 85% efficient cogeneration system is being evaluated at full load and on a first law of thermodynamics basis (i.e., input = output at steady state). The average …

Zerronox Corporation: Using Pulsed Electron Beams For The Removal Of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxides And Other Emissions From Power Plants, Stephen Kennedy

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Zerronox Corporation is a technology company addressing the market for emission abatement from fossil fuel power plants, specifically coal, natural gas, oil and diesel. Our mission is to commercialize the patented pulsed electron beam (PEB) technology for the cost effective removal of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and other exhaust stream pollutants such as sulfur oxides and mercury. The core technology was developed by the Naval Research Laboratory over the past fifteen years with a total investment from the DOE of more than $150M. Consequently, the developed technology is industrial scale in scope and has been tested for durability.

The …

Baysian Uncertainty Quantification And Calibration Of A Clean-Coal Design Code, Troy Holland, Sham Bhat, Peter Marcy, James Gattiker, Joel Kress, Thomas Fletcher

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Current concerns about atmospheric carbon levels have sparked demands for massively reduced carbon emissions. These demands, both environmental and regulatory, exceed the capacity for near-term deployment of emission free technologies. Therefore, to simultaneously meet carbon emission targets and supply the vast global energy demands in the foreseeable future, energy generation must incorporate carbon-capture and sequestration technologies on point source CO­₂ emitters such as coal-fired power plants.

Coal-fired power plants have long been the primary energy pillar of industrialized nations, and while reduced utilization is an important target for CO₂ reduction, coal combustion remains the most intensive and prevalent …

Fulfilling The Promise Of The Paris Agreement: The Role Of Efficiency And Renewable Energy, Chuck Kutscher

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Renewable energy, energy policy, energy efficiency, buildings

The rapid large-scale deployment of efficiency and renewable energy technologies is crucial to meeting the goals of the COP21 agreement. Key to achieving this is transitioning to zero-carbon cities comprised of highly efficient buildings powered by renewable electricity. This presentation will survey the current efficiency and renewable energy research underway at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with special attention paid to zero-carbon buildings and the challenges of developing a renewable energy electric grid.

Using Geologic Co2 Storage For Enhanced Geothermal Energy And Water Recovery And Energy Storage, Thomas Buscheck, Jeffrey Bielicki, Jimmy Randolph

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Reductions in CO₂ emissions at a scale consistent with limiting the increase in the global average temperature to below 2oC above pre-industrial levels requires a range of measures, including increased use of renewable and low-carbon energy and reduced CO₂ intensity of fossil energy use, with each of these measures having major deployment barriers. The variability of the predominant renewable resources (wind and solar) requires major advances in utility-scale diurnal-to-seasonal energy storage. Base-load energy, such as nuclear, that cannot be cycled during periods of over-generation will have difficulty co-existing on electric grids with a large presence of variable renewables. …

Predictive Models Of Carbon Capture Systems And Their Validation Using Bench Scale And Pilot Scale Data, Debangsu Bhattacharyya, Anderson Soares, Joshua Morgan, Benjamin Omell, Sarah Genovese, David Miller

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Predictive steady-state and dynamic models are essential for optimal design and scale up of CO₂ capture processes. The models should be able to predict accurately across all scales and required operating conditions with quantified uncertainty. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (CCSI) process modeling team has been working on the development of a framework to develop such models. This framework is demonstrated on a typical amine-based system which is highly non-ideal and can exhibit large nonlinearities and therefore serves as a nice platform to test the framework. To validate both steady state and dynamic models developed …

Mist Injection Causes High Co2 Capture In Wastewater Stream, Sanjev Jolly

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Enviro Ambient specializes in a multi-pollutant emission reduction control process where several pollutants like NOx, SOx, halogens and heavy metals including mercury are reduced simultaneously. The process involves injecting two strong oxidants – ozone and hydrogen peroxide – in the flue gas stream and converting the pollutants into water soluble compounds, which are then precipitated out of the flue gases via condensation process by injecting very fine water droplets. The condensed acids are then collected as wastewater for neutralization and further treatment depending upon local wastewater discharge requirements. The results were successfully demonstrated for natural gas and coal-fired units at …

Sunshine To Petrol: Thermochemistry For Solar Fuels, James Miller, Eric Coker, Andrea Ambrosini, Anthony Mcdaniel, Ivan Ermanoski, Ellen Stechel

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Sandia National Laboratories has for many years been engaged in investigating and developing the science and technology of solar thermochemistry for application to production of solar fuels (“Sunshine to Petrol”), and thermochemical energy storage. The vision of Sunshine to Petrol is captured in one deceptively simple chemical equation:

Solar Energy + xCO₂ + (x+1) H₂O → CxH₂x+₂ (liquid fuel) + (1.5x+0.5) O₂

Practical implementation of this equation may seem far-fetched, since it effectively describes the use of solar energy to reverse combustion. However, it is also representative of the photosynthetic processes responsible for …

Monitoring Co2 At An Enhanced Oil Recovery And Carbon Capture And Storage Project, Farnsworth Unit, Texas, Robert Balch, Richard Esser, Ning Liu

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Southwest Partnership on Carbon Sequestration (SWP) is one of seven large scale CO2 sequestration projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, each with the goal of permanently sequestering at least 1,000,000 metric tonnes of CO₂. The SWP project is at an active Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project in a mature waterflood in the Farnsworth Unit, Texas, which is undergoing conversion to a CO₂ flood. CO₂ for this project is anthropogenically sourced from a fertilizer plant in Borger, Texas and an ethanol plant in Liberal, Kansas. Currently, the field has 13 CO₂ injectors and …

Integration Of High-Fidelity Co2 Sorbent Models At The Process Scale Using Dynamic Discrepancy, Joel Kress, Kujin Li, David Mebane, Priyadarshi Mahapatra, Sham Bhat

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

A high-fidelity model of a mesoporous silica supported, polyethylenimine (PEI)-impregnated solid sorbent for CO₂ capture has been incorporated into a model of a bubbling fluidized bed adsorber using Dynamic Discrepancy Reduced Modeling (DDRM). The sorbent model includes a detailed treatment of transport and amine-CO₂-H₂O interactions based on quantum chemistry calculations. Using a Bayesian approach, we calibrate the sorbent model to Thermogravimetric (TGA) data. Discrepancy functions are included within the diffusion coefficients for diffusive species within the PEI bulk, enabling a 20-fold reduction in model order. Additional discrepancy functions account for non-ideal behavior in the adsorption …

Development Of The First Internationally Accepted Standard For Geologic Storage Of Carbon Dioxide Utilizing Enhanced Oil Recovery (Eor) Under The International Standards Organization (Iso) Technical Committee Tc-265, Steven Carpenter

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) industry is lacking standardization and therefore the ability to allow CCUS projects to advance as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or to be considered for any type of carbon management or accounting scheme is also hindered. An international effort between the United States and Canada, funded by the International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide (IPAC-CO2 Research Inc.), and managed by CSA Standards, have developed the first internationally recognized Standard for the geologic storage of carbon dioxide (Z-741). The Z-741 Standard has been adopted by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) …

The Value Of Co2-Geothermal Bulk Energy Storage To Co2, Jonathan Ogland-Hand, Jeffrey Bielicki, Thomas Buscheck

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Two primary challenges for modern societies are to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) that is emitted to the atmosphere and to increase the penetration of renewable energy technologies into electricity systems. CO₂-bulk energy storage (CO₂-BES) is a CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) approach that can address both of these challenges by using CO₂ emitted from large point sources (e.g., fossil fuel power plants, cement manufacturers) that is sequestered in sedimentary basin geothermal resources to take power from, and deliver power to, electricity grids. Electricity can be generated by wind and …

Update On The Net Power 50 Mwth Zero Emission Power Station, David Freed

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Allam Cycle is a highly-recuperated oxy-fuel supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle that offers significant advantages over traditional power cycles, including high efficiencies, low capital costs, low or no water consumption, and elimination of all air emissions, including CO2. Traditional power cycles, such as natural gas combined cycle, supercritical coal cycles, and integrated gasification combined cycle, all require the addition of expensive, efficiency-reducing equipment in order to decrease and capture emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. The Allam Cycle takes a novel approach to reducing emissions from fossil fuel power generation, whereby the system uses oxy-combustion of fossil fuels and …

Introduction To The Wyoming Integrated Test Center, Jason Begger

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

No abstract provided.

Successes And Challenges Of Renewables Deployment In The Eu Power Sector, Hans-Wilhelm Schiffer

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Several countries in the EU have taken initiatives to become global leaders in the deployment of renewable energy technologies. While this effort is generally aimed at reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, cost minimization, reducing the role of nuclear energy, increasing efficiency and simply expanding the role of renewables are also often named as motivations. Thus, with varied national goals and approaches, the path to decarbonize through renewables deployment in the EU has been far from simple and tension has between the EU and its members has grown in recent years. The successes, challenges, and current status of renewables …

Electrochemical Membrane Technology For Carbon Dioxide Capture From Flue Gas, Hossein Ghezel-Ayagh, Stephen Jolly, Dilip Patel, William Steen

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

To address the concerns about climate change resulting from emission of CO₂ by power plants and industrial facilities, FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE) has developed the Combined Electric Power and Carbon-dioxide Separation (CEPACS) system. The CEPACS system utilizes Electrochemical Membrane (ECM) technology derived from the Company’s molten carbonate fuel cell-based Direct FuelCell^® products. The system separates CO₂ from the flue gas of other plants and produces electric power using a supplementary fuel. FCE is currently evaluating the use of ECM to cost effectively separate CO₂ from the flue gas of Pulverized Coal (PC) power plants under cooperative …

Multiscale Research Toward Resilient Civil Infrastructure, Hamzeh Haghshenas Fatmehsari, Keyvan Zare Rami, Mahdieh Khedmati, Kommidi Santosh, Farshad Fallah, Yong-Rak Kim

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Infrastructure materials are generally composite in nature and consist of different phases. Despite their widespread use, the mechanisms behind their behavior are often not fully understood. The aim of this research is to develop the capability to predict the performance of infrastructure based on its components, thus eliminating the need for costly experimental tests. Such an objective requires thorough understanding of material properties at various length-scales and investigation of the linkage between each scale. This approach can lead to more optimized designs, sustainable performance and maximized public benefit

Managing Co2 In Rural America, Barbara Walz

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

No abstract provided.

Aep Perspectives On 21st Century Power Generation, Matt Usher

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

This presentation will provide an overview of AEP’s Business, focusing on the current and future generation portfolio, and progress made to date in the reduction of emissions, including CO2. Included will be a discussion of key industry trends and issues influencing AEP’s R&D and business development strategies, perspectives on current and future CCUS technology development, as well as insights into the role that AEP sees technology playing to support the “utility of the future”.

Update On The Status And Development Of Issues Surrounding Enhanced Oil Recovery (Eor) In The State Of Wyoming, Steven Carpenter

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

The Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute (EORI) at the University of Wyoming is charged, by the Wyoming Legislature, to work with Wyoming oil producers to increase oil production, and as result, increase tax revenues of the state. EORI is part of the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming, which provides offices and laboratory facilities in which EORI works. A Technical Advisory Board (TAB), comprised of leading experts from universities and energy companies in the United States, provides technical oversight of EORI work. In addition to industry cooperation and project co-funding, EORI works closely with the other University of …

Chemical Utilization Of Co2 For Grid-Scale Energy Storage: A Prospective Scenario Of China And Global Energy Connection, Pengxiang Song, Bo Zhao, Zhaolong Du

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Utilizing carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestered from large point sources to produce fuels and chemicals has been proposed as an energy carrier of storing intermittent renewable energy. The integrated technology is Power to Gas (PtG), or Power to Liquid (PtL) process. In the scenario of very-high installed renewable energy source (RES>80%) or curtailed wind/solar energy, the RES+PtG/ PtL will play an important role of energy transition while fossil fuels are phased out. The study reviews and assesses the technology development, economic feasibility, system impact and future outlook in prospective of grid-scale analysis and global energy interconnection.

Geologic Co2 Storage Using Pre-Injection Brine Production In Tandem Reservoirs: A Strategy For Improved Storage Performance And Enhanced Water Recovery, Thomas Buscheck, Jeffrey Bielicki, Joshua White, Yunwei Sun, Yue Hao, William Bourcier, Susan Carroll, Roger Aines

CO2 Summit II: Technologies and Opportunities

Deployment barriers for CO₂ capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) in saline reservoirs can be grouped under three categories: (1) net cost (after accounting for utilization benefits); (2) water intensity of CO₂ capture, and (3) uncertainty about storage capacity and permanence. The third category is often considered to be the most challenging. Overpressure, which is fluid pressure that exceeds the original reservoir pressure due to CO₂ injection, is the limiting metric for storage capacity and permanence because it drives key physical risks: induced seismicity, caprock fracture, and CO₂ leakage. Variables that control overpressure include: (1) the quantity …