Author: Matthew Davis / Source: Big Think
- New research from an MIT team has resulted in a proof-of-concept battery that uses a CO2-based component.
- The research made innovative use of technology from existing carbon-capture processes and applied it to battery systems, potentially circumventing the high cost of carbon capture and the inefficiency in prior CO2-based batteries.
- The system could be installed in power plants to capture excess carbon dioxide and use it to store energy.
Carbon dioxide is a really inconvenient little molecule. It’s bad to breathe, makes the oceans and rain acidic, and traps heat in the atmosphere, raising the global temperature. It also happens to be locked away in one of the most easily accessible forms of fuel. We’ve long known that the carbon dioxide we produce from burning fossil fuels is contributing to climate change, but there hasn’t been any practical way for us to stop doing so. Fortunately, new research from MIT has identified a way for us to turn the dangerous waste product into a useful part of batteries.
The high cost of keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere
This is a big step up from prior efforts to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. While the best way to reduce emissions is to simply produce or use less power, this option isn’t quite palatable (or profitable) to most people. Instead, much of our efforts have been focused on capturing carbon dioxide before it leaves the power plant.
Generally, carbon-capture processes like this use solutions containing amine, a derivative of ammonia, to bind with carbon dioxide, preventing it from entering the atmosphere.
But the problem with these solutions is that the amines and CO2 need to be separated again—this way, the amines can be reused and the CO2 can be safely stored. Unfortunately, doing so costs about 30% of the energy a power plant produces. Even if this process becomes more efficient, it will still come at the cost of lost energy and won’t produce any benefit—aside from a healthier planet.A recent article published in Joule by Betar Gallant and her research team offers a more attractive alternative: Rather than sequestering CO2 deep underground, why not make use of it to produce more energy in a clean way?
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Carbon-capturing coal plants (sometimes referred to as “clean coal” plants) use amines to capture CO2 before it enters the atmosphere. This plant, the American Electric Power’s Mountaineer coal plant, plans to store 100,000 tons of CO2 7,200…
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