Direct and continuous conversion of flue gas CO2 into green fuels using dual function materials in a circulating fluidized bed system

Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies, such as CO2 methanation, generally require energy-intensive CO2 capture and separation processes prior to catalytic CO2 conversion. In contrast, integrated CO2 capture and reduction (CCR) technologies that use dual function materials (DFM) can directly convert low-concentration CO2 in flue gas or atmosphere into high-concentration CH4 or CO. In this study, we demonstrate a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) approach to enable continuous operation of CCR. In the CFB approach, the DFM (Na/Ni/Al2O3) circulates between two bubbling fluidized beds to enable steady-state cyclic operation of (1) selective capture of CO2 in flue gas/air and (2) hydrogenation of the captured CO2. We succeeded in the continuous synthesis of CH4 with high CO2 capture efficiency (>88 %) and high H-2 conversion (>85 %) yielding mainly CH4 (selectivity > 99 %) as the product at high concentration (>20 % CH4) using 2 % CO2/N-2 as the model flue gas.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) approach for continuous CO2 capture and reduction. Using dual function materials and steady-state cyclic operation, low-concentration CO2 can be directly converted into high-concentration CH4 or CO.