Don’t Stop… Decarbonizin’
Tanay N -
Greetings everyone! This past week has been a blur of traveling and reading, as I have just got back from working as a Camp Counselor at a Climate Education Camp in Prescott. It was an amazing experience, as I’ve never worked as a camp counselor before, but also because I was able to talk about Direct Air Capture in one of the workshops I led!
My project involves laboratory research as well as the creation of my Lemon unit because I believe promoting environmental stewardship to as many people as we can is crucial in the fight to protect our planet, which is one of the reasons why I chose to become a Camp Counselor in the first place.
Potential Sorbents
In regard to the extensive list of potential sorbents I’m investigating, currently the Hydroxides and Oxides are strong candidates, as the products are safe, and they can be reacted from powder form. However, many salts that form carbonates, such as Lithium chloride, can also be employed “in solution” which requires Lemon 2.0 (the aqueous version). This is a challenge, as I would love to test as many sorbents as I can for the at-home Direct Air Capture unit, but laboratory work is also key to my project, so I will have to heavily maneuver through time if I would like to create Lemon 2.0.
What I’ve Learned This Past Week
As promised in the previous blog post, I will explain a little bit of the Ion-Exchange Resins in regard to Moisture-Swing Technology in this post but will continue with a deeper explanation in my next blog post.
These are specifically amine-based ion-exchange resins (AERs) that can grab CO₂ when the air is dry and then release it when exposed to moisture—moisture-swing adsorption. This unique “trick” relies on tiny chemical groups (quaternary ammonium) that react with CO₂ and water in a reversible cycle.
Quaternary ammonium just means that instead of NH4, the hydrogen groups are replaced by methyl groups (CH3), like this: N⁺(CH₃)₄. Here, nitrogen is bonded to four methyl (-CH₃) groups, making it a stable, charged molecule.
So why does this matter? Unlike other CO₂ capture methods that need high temperatures or pressure changes, these resins cost less to regenerate and are highly stable. Even better, they can be scaled up for commercial use, making them a promising solution for direct air capture (DAC) technology, as well as for research in my laboratory placement.
Here’s how the reaction works at its most basic level:
N⁺ + CO2 + 2OH– ↔ N⁺CO32- + H2O
The reaction happens in reverse as well, freeing the CO2.
As you can see, carbonate is how the CO2 is being absorbed in this complex commercial application with amine-based ion-exchange resins (AERs). Carbonate is also involved in my Lemon unit. Thus, I aim to create comparisons on how at-home direct air capture (DAC) units are, at their most basic level, similar to industrial moisture-swing techniques. Hopefully this fact can increase the popularity of at-home DAC units.
Laboratory Update
Another challenge I am facing is that my laboratory start date has been pushed back to next week. However, I speculate that all of this reading will allow me to hit the ground running once I am in the lab, allowing me to efficiently reach all of my goals for the project.
I am very grateful for the support Ms. Holtzman and Dr. Green have provided me with learning new topics such as Ion-Exchange Resins. From this point on, I anticipate consistent progress in achieving my milestones, such as running tests on my Lemon unit as well as in the lab! I am forever thankful for those of you who continue to read my posts and BASIS.ed for this amazing opportunity.
See you next week! 🙂
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