Carbon Capture: Taking a Walk In the Wrong Direction
Aryana p -
For the beginning of my lab experience, I have unexpectedly found myself skipping to the last steps of the scientific method. Because I am traveling, I originally planned to simply perform calculations to prepare myself for experimentation and the creation of Carbon Capture membranes. However, I discovered that your environment truly does influence your work. Walking through Ahmedabad, India, diesel fumes pound all of my senses. I can see clouds shroud the night, feel and taste thick air in my lungs, and hear the fumes spilling from car engines. Surrounded by the problem my experiment aims to mitigate, I could not think about the geometry of filtration membranes. Instead, I set aside experimentation, and pondered the question: How will I imitate this heavy polluted air in our sterile labs, so that I can test the membranes?
My onsite advisor introduced me to a diagram making platform called Miro to answer this question.This is the platform where I conceptualized my originally vague notions of how membranes were tested in the laboratory. What was at first a blur of wires are winding tubes, became a clear, easy understandable diagram. In the process of making this diagram that is usually meant for readers like you to understand, I actually gained a deeper understanding myself, and I will now explain to you how membranes are filtered in the lab.
From one gas tank, 20% carbon dioxide in N2 is pumped into the system to mimic the composition of air. This is the feed gas. Feed gases pump through one side of the membrane while sweep gases ‘sweep’ the permeated feed gas on the other side of the membrane, easing the flow through. In this case the sweep gas is pure N2. To mimic outside conditions, it is necessary to consider the humidity outside. Therefore, if testing humidity, the sweep gas will be moisturized with water by flowing through a chamber with water and vapor. The sweep gas(which may or may not be humidified depending on whether we are testing with humidity) will then flow to the rectangular prism-shaped membrane chamber. The feed gas goes through the top of the membrane chamber, while the sweep runs through the other side. The retentate—the bad stuff—flows from one side while the permeate the—good stuff—flows through the other. Both of these are tested in machines called IRGAs which are connected to a computer that can show the scientist the concentration of CO2 in their respective gases.
What I have introduced is not the complete complexity of this system, but the rest will have to wait until the next blog when I learn more about the importance of vacuums to this system. As I contemplate these complex topics, I will also always remember to step outside of the lab, because maybe I will confront a new problem or an unexpected solution. Apparently, taking a walk really does have its benefits!
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