An expert team, building real-world solutions
Carbon Capture
Lowering the cost of CO2 direct air capture (DAC)
The challenge
Direct air capture (DAC), a strategy for removing CO2 directly from the air, is a promising solution for reducing and eventually reversing our carbon emissions. However, current DAC technologies are not economically feasible and have operating costs between $300-1,500/tonne CO2.
Susteon’s solution
Susteon is developing a novel DAC technology that (i) uses alkali-based sorbent materials, (ii) directly integrates renewable sources of electricity, and (iii) does not require new manufacturing or special material supply chains for scale-up.
This compact, structured material system will achieve capture of CO2 with significant reduction of land usage as compared to existing DAC technologies.
Susteon is dedicating a team to rapidly develop this technology and enable DAC at a cost of less than $75/ton CO2.
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Enhancing capture rates for amine-based DAC technology
The challenge
Amine-based technologies for direct air capture (DAC) suffer from low CO2 capture and release rates, resulting in longer operating times and overall reduced carbon capture capability. A drawback of lower capture rates is lower CO2 purity, limiting how the captured CO2 can be later utilized.
Susteon’s solution
Susteon is working on a new class of ionic liquid (IL)- catalyzed sorbents, which can capture and subsequently release CO2 at higher rates.
The IL additives significantly enhance the performance of existing amine-based DAC technologies and are designed to be used at lower temperature (85°C) and with a lower pressure drop, directly addressing the main cost challenges of DAC.
The end goal is to enable CO2 capture at a cost of less than $100/tonne of CO2.
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Improved, flexible carbon capture from power plants
The challenge
Power plants are rapidly shifting to a diversified energy portfolio, which includes natural gas as well as variable renewable energy (VRE) sources such as solar and wind energy. At peak demand, when fossil fuels are needed to supply power, a flexible carbon-capture system is critical to ensure that electricity generation is always net-zero in CO2 emissions.
Susteon’s solution
Susteon, Svante, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) are working together on flexible CO2 capture technology, which enables power plants to use fossil energy (such as natural gas) in response to peak grid conditions while capturing the resulting CO2 emissions.
Flexible carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies promote grid reliability and energy security while achieving reduced CO2 emissions at lowered cost.
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Creating renewable natural gas from the CO2 in air
The challenge
Direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 from air is a promising “negative emissions technology.” However, for the captured CO2 to be utilized, normally it must first be purified, pressurized, and transported to a facility, using expensive infrastructure such as pipelines.
Susteon’s solution
Susteon is working with Columbia University to develop dual functional materials (DFM) which can not only capture CO2 from the air at substantially lower cost, but also convert the CO2 in the same reactor to produce renewable natural gas.
This renewable natural gas can be used for heating or electricity generation, followed by CO2 capture, with net-zero emissions.
The DFMs only require low-purity hydrogen gas to work, and so this process can be used close to sources of waste hydrogen (such as refineries).
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Carbon Utilization
Reusing CO2 for chemicals in a circular carbon economy
The challenge
Oil and gas resources provide the power and the carbon materials that we need to make many of society’s important chemical products. We must shift our economy to produce the same chemicals using renewable power sources and captured CO2 as a carbon source.
Susteon’s solution
Susteon is supporting the development of several new technologies which can convert CO2 directly into high-demand chemicals, such as benzene, acetic acid, and propionic acid.
If successful, these pathways will enable us to move away from fossil hydrocarbons as a “starting material” and produce chemicals in a more sustainable manner from CO2.
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Efficient conversion of CO2 and propane using plasma
The challenge
More than 200 million tons of CO2 are emitted each year from the production of ethylene and propylene – the chemical building blocks of the plastics industry. We can produce these important materials more sustainably by utilizing CO2 as a starting material and integrating renewable electricity to generate the energy required.
Susteon’s solution
Susteon is developing a new technology based on catalytic non-thermal plasma (CNTP), which enables more energy-efficient production of chemicals, as well as sustainable aviation fuel.
CO2 can be directly utilized in this reactor at a rate of approx. 1 ton CO2 per ton propylene.
The reactor uses ethane or propane from natural gas and can be easily constructed anywhere, allowing us to directly utilize this resource wherever it is found in the U.S.
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Hydrogen Production
Cheap, high-purity hydrogen gas with no CO2 emissions
The challenge
Hydrogen (H2) will play a critical role in a fully decarbonized, net-zero emissions economy. We currently have limited pathways to produce H2 at high purity (e.g., for fuel cell vehicles), at a low cost (< $1.50/kg), and without creating CO2 emissions along the way.
Susteon’s solution
Susteon is supporting several technology development projects to produce hydrogen from methane, the main component of natural gas, by using clean electricity.
The carbon from methane is used to create high-value carbon products, like carbon nanotubes, carbon fibers, graphite, and silicon carbide, rather than being emitted as CO2.
The advances in green hydrogen generation will enable H2 costs as low as $1.50/kg along with CO2 emissions lower than 3 kg CO2 per kg H2 (compared to the average 10 kg CO2 per kg H2 when using the state-of-the-art technology).
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High-purity hydrogen from methane using plasma
The challenge
As hydrogen demand increases for industries such as transportation, heat and power, and manufacturing, we need clean approaches for producing H2 gas; 1 lb of H2 produced also generates 10 lb of CO2. Additionally, H2 can cost as much as $10-14/kg in remote or distributed locations.
Susteon’s solution
Susteon is leveraging plasma technology, originally developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to enable clean hydrogen production from methane with built-in CO2 capture.
The technology allows for modular, distributed construction – this compact H2 generator can be built at small-scale and wherever natural gas is available. The resulting costs could be as low as $3-4/kg H2, including the cost of CO2 capture.
The system is more energy-efficient than the state-of-the-art technologies: steam methane reforming (SMR), from fossil sources, and water electrolysis, using renewable sources.