Novel Approaches to Improving the Process of Direct Air Capture of CO2

OVERVIEW

The Seeker for this Wazoku Crowd Challenge is looking for novel and innovative approaches to improving the process of Direct Air Capture of CO_2.

In recent years, Direct Air Capture (DAC) has emerged as a promising technology that directly removes CO₂ from the atmospheric air. DAC works by passing air through specialized filters or sorbents that selectively capture CO₂ molecules.

Crucial components in many DAC technologies are amines, organic compounds derived from ammonia (NH₃); they are used to capture CO₂ from the atmosphere due to their ability to form stable chemical bonds with CO₂ molecules, resulting in the formation of carbamate compounds.

Unfortunately, amines are sensitive to oxidative degradation, leading to the loss of their CO₂ adsorption capacity and, consequently, to higher operational costs of the DAC process.

Attempts have been made to prevent amine oxidation by modifying their structure and some aspects of the DAC process. Unfortunately, these attempts have not resulted in a sufficient reduction of amine oxidation.

This Challenge is, therefore, looking for novel, innovative approaches to increase the efficiency of the DAC process by replacing amines with more resistant to oxidation materials (or combination of materials) or by proposing novel methods to produce suitable oxidatively robust amines.  

By taking part in this Prize Challenge, you are granting the Seeker a right to use your submitted information; however, the Seeker must determine award winners within 45 days from the start of evaluation, otherwise they lose this right of use.

This Prize Challenge requires a written proposal to be submitted. The total award pool for this Challenge is $40,000, of which $25,000 is a guaranteed part of it, with at least one award of $15,000 or larger and no award being smaller than $2,500. Award distribution (or allocation) will be contingent upon the theoretical evaluation of the proposals.

Solvers may:

• Submit ideas of their own.
• Submit third-party information that they have the right to use and further, the authority to convey to the Seeker this right with the right to use and develop derivative works.
• Submit information considered in the public domain without any limitations on use.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on January 13th, 2025.

- Login and register your interest to start solving!

Find out more about participation in Wazoku Crowd Challenges.

THE CHALLENGE

Background

Reducing CO₂ emissions is a currently widespread approach. In addition to reducing emissions of GHG gases and decarbonizing energy systems, we also need to consider negative emission technologies that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is one of the most promising technologies that has been developed for this purpose. DAC works by passing air through specialized filters or sorbents that selectively capture CO₂ molecules. Once captured, the CO₂ can be separated from filters/sorbents, and then it can be stored in underground formations or used in different applications or used for building materials.

Amines, organic compounds derived from ammonia (NH₃), are crucial components in many DAC technologies. They are used to capture CO₂ from the atmosphere due to their ability to form stable chemical bonds with CO₂ molecules, resulting in the formation of carbamates.

This process typically involves:

1. Adsorption: CO₂ from the air reacts with amine groups on a solid sorbent or in a liquid solution, forming a carbamate.
2. Desorption: The carbamate is then heated or subjected to a pressure change to release the captured CO₂, regenerating the amine for reuse.

Amines are well suited for DAC because of their high selectivity for CO₂, as well as their relatively mild regeneration conditions compared to other methods (see: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00065, for more detail).

One significant obstacle to using amines for DAC, however, is their sensitivity to oxidation, which leads to the loss of capturing efficiency and formation of harmful by-products. Oxidized amines can also be damaging to equipment.

As a result, more frequent regeneration of the amines or even their full replacement is required to maintain efficiency, which increases the operating costs of the DAC process.

Several improvements have been attempted to address this problem, including careful selection of amines, adding antioxidants, and optimizing operating conditions. Unfortunately, none of these approaches was found to be effective enough to overcome the limitations of amine oxidation, which remains a formidable obstacle to improving the net efficiency of the DAC process.

The Challenge

The goal of this Challenge is, therefore, to find alternatives to amines as a CO₂ capturing agent or to provide a method of rendering amines oxidatively robust while not impacting their CO₂ capture efficacy. We envision that a material (or a combination of materials) can be found that retains advantaged adsorption/desorption capacities yet possesses a superior resistance to oxidation at high temperatures.

SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS

We’re open to any innovative approach for as long as the proposed material (or a combination of materials) meets the following Solution Requirements:

1. It has a cyclic CO₂ adsorption capacity of at least 1 mmol of CO₂ per 1 g of adsorbent at an adsorption condition of 400 ppm of CO₂ at 25 °C, 50% relative humidity, and 1 bar of total pressure.
2. It has a desorption temperature of 100°C and a sweep gas volume of no more than 15 mol of H2O per 1 mol of desorbed CO₂.
3. It has the average rate of CO₂ adsorption at least 0.1 g CO₂ per 1g of active material.
4. It can be a solid or a liquid, but the liquid must have a low viscosity and a boiling point greater than 300°C at atmospheric pressure.
5. The material must be oxidatively stable and maintain at least 90% of its initial capacity after 3 months of operation at 100°C, ambient humidity and oxygen concentration, and in 1 bar of total pressure.
6. It is safe to operate and environmentally friendly.
7. It is commercially available or is derived from commodity compounds and has a reasonable path to commercial availability at the amount of >100 tons per year.
8. Its projected scaled price should not exceed $100 per kg and be ideally around $50 per kg.

Important! We don’t want to completely rule out amines as a CO₂ capturing agent. We’re open to proposals to use oxidation-resistant amines (by ways of their modification) for as long as the resulting material meets the requirements outlined above.

At the same time, we’re not going to accept solutions that:

1. Require excessive energy consumption.
2. Rely on the application of vacuum.

Solutions with any Technology Readiness Level (TRL) are invited, although those with TRL 2-4 are preferred.

This Prize Challenge has the following features:

1. By taking part, you are granting the Seeker a right to use your submitted information; however, the Seeker must determine the award winners within 45 days from the start of evaluation, otherwise the Seeker loses this right of use. You will receive notification.

2. The total award pool for this Challenge is $40,000, of which $25,000 is a guaranteed part of it, with at least one award of $15,000 or larger and no award being smaller than $2,500. Stating again that the Seeker will make Awards to the value of at least $25,000.

3. The award distribution will be determined after theoretical evaluation of the proposals by the Seeker.

4. Solvers may:

• Submit ideas of their own,
• Submit third-party information that they have the right to use and further, the authority to convey to the Seeker this right with the right to use and develop derivative works,
• Submit information considered in the public domain without any limitations on use.

5. The Seeker may also issue “Honourable Mention” recognitions for notable submissions that are not selected for monetary awards.

6. The Seeker may wish to partner with the Solver at the conclusion of the Challenge. Please indicate your interest in partnering.

YOUR SUBMISSION

Please login and register your interest, to complete the submission form.

The submitted proposals must be written in English, and in your submission form response and attachments, you should include:

1. Participation type – you will first be asked to inform us how you are participating in this challenge, as a Solver (Individual) or Solver (Organization).
2. Solution Level - the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of your solution.
3. Partnering - there may be an opportunity to partner at the conclusion of this Challenge. Please indicate if partnering is of interest to you.
4. Problem & Opportunity - highlight the innovation in your approach to the Problem, its point of difference, and the specific advantages/benefits this brings (up to 500 words).
5. Solution Overview - detail the features of your solution and how they address the Solution Requirements (500 words, there is space to add more in the summary field below, and to add any appropriate supporting data, diagrams, etc.).
6. Experience - Expertise, use cases and skills you or your organization have in relation to your proposed solution (up to 500 words).
7. Solution Risks - any risks you see with your solution and how you would plan for this (up to 500 words).
8. Timeline, capability and costs - describe what you think is required to deliver the solution, estimated time and cost (up to 500 words).
9. Online References - provide links to any publications, articles or press releases of relevance (up to 500 words).

Wazoku encourages the use by Solvers of AI approaches to help develop their submissions, though any produced solely with generative AI are not of interest.

Find out more about participation in Wazoku Crowd Challenges.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on January 13th, 2025.

Late submissions will not be considered.

Your submission will be evaluated by the evaluation team first reviewing the information and content you have submitted on the submission form, with attachments used as additional context to your form submission. Submissions relying solely on attachments will receive less attention from the evaluation team.

After the Challenge submission close date, the Seeker will complete the review process and make a decision with regards to the winning solution(s) according to the timeline in the Challenge header. All Solvers who submit a proposal will be notified about the status of their submissions.