North Haven, CT (July 21st, 2020) – Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) announced it has won a Department of Energy (DOE) Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to develop new technology for the Direct Air Capture (DAC) of carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are driving global warming, with fossil fuel combustion and industry accounting for substantial CO2 emissions, as a result global economies and governments are trying to reduce these emissions. Carbon capture technologies provide an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions and utilize the CO2 for integration into value-added chains of several industries, such as enhanced oil recovery and an emerging industry of converting CO2 to fuels and plastics.
Currently, energy costs per ton of CO2 desorption are a major barrier facing DAC concepts. PCI’s technology explores an innovative sorbent and system in a thermal-swing concept where the CO2 is adsorbed at ambient air conditions and desorbed at only slightly higher temperature. The sorbent is capable of regenerating at relatively low temperatures, thus reducing energy costs of desorption and increasing the opportunity for DAC of CO2 using low value thermal energy sources such as waste or solar heat.
Direct Air Capture technology is scalable and geographically flexible, offering broad potential as a negative-emissions technology. PCI’s approach is tailorable to the relatively low atmospheric CO2 concentrations and ambient humidities. In addition to the CO2 capture and release processes, the company will explore upgrading the captured CO2 into value-added products.
According to Dr. Codruta Loebick, the Principal Investigator, “PCI’s technology offers an opportunity to extend the economic viability of DAC systems by reducing energy costs of desorption. Phase I of the project will develop and demonstrate lab-scale and techno-economic proof-of-concept of these cutting edge technologies that might advance to a commercially viable process in later stages of the project.”
President Kevin Burns adds, “This is high risk, but it is opening new areas. We are working to provide the lowest cost solution for CO2 DAC, innovating on some good prior technology and experimentation. We’re grateful to DOE SBIR for recognizing the potential here and supporting the work. Minimizing the energy costs of removing and utilizing CO2 from the atmosphere would offer a great building block towards reducing the impact of global warming.”
Precision Combustion, Inc. is a clean energy and sorption technology company developing, manufacturing, and marketing solutions for energy and environmental sector applications.
For more information, contact:
Anthony Anderson
Director, Marketing and Business Development
Phone: 203-287-3700 ext. 290
Email: aanderson@precision-combustion.com
