Demonstration Results of Enzyme-Accelerated CO2 Capture

CO2 Solutions Inc. of Quebec, Canada has commercialized a proprietary low-cost, enzyme accelerated solvent technology for the capture of carbon dioxide and its beneficial reuse. Enzyme catalyzed aqueous salt solutions can be deployed with a variety of gas scrubbing equipment configurations to replace costly and environmentally challenged amines solvents as an efficient solution for post-combustion CO2 capture. The presentation will discuss the results of its 10 tonne-CO2/day demonstration carried out in the summer and fall of 2015 in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (Valleyfield), near Montreal, Canada. The Valleyfield project was the largest-ever scale test of an enzyme-based CO2 capture process and used an industrially robust form of carbonic anhydrase enzyme developed by CO2 Solutions to capture CO2 from a natural gas fired boiler. The demonstration operated successfully for a total of more than 2,500 hours and saw stable performance of the enzyme catalyst, stable solvent performance with negligible degradation, no wastes generated, and highly pure CO2 produced suitable for a broad range of reuse applications. In addition, the use of low-grade, nil-value heat for solvent regeneration at low temperature was accomplished, demonstrating this innovative method of operating cost savings. The presentation will include performance aspects of the demonstration and associated techno-economics of the technology for application to electricity and steam generation. An update on the technology's commercial implementation will also be provided. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.