Northwestern scores $3.3M DOE grant to research CCS behavior

In Illinois, Northwestern University will receive $3.3 million from the Department of Energy to examine how the dynamic behavior of promising carbon capture systems impacts the systems’ ability to capture and release carbon dioxide. Specifically, the research team will study metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), porous materials with uniform structures that are promising solid sorbents – a sponge of sorts for capturing CO2 from air.

The objective is to study these changes over a high number of capture-release cycles and find the reasons behind the reduction of the materials’ CO2 capture efficiency over time. This includes understanding how these materials evolve under operating conditions as they undergo mechanical changes, develop heterogeneity, yield unwanted chemical reactions, degrade or accumulate impurities.

 The researchers will use state-of-the-art experimental techniques to monitor and analyze CO2 capture and release cycles as they occur, and computational chemistry will aid the analysis of experimental observations. This approach will provide design rules for next-generation high-performance direct air capture sorbents.