IP Library Patent Application 14315920
Patent Application
App. No. 14/315,920

NUCLEOPHILIC POROUS CARBON MATERIALS FOR REVERSIBLE CO2 CAPTURE

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Patent No.
US None
App. No.
14/315,920
Abstract

In some embodiments, the present disclosure pertains to methods of capturing CO 2 from an environment by associating the environment (e.g., a pressurized environment) with a porous carbon material that comprises a plurality of pores and a plurality of nucleophilic moieties. In some embodiments, the associating results in sorption of CO 2 to the porous carbon materials. In some embodiments, the sorption of CO 2 to the porous carbon materials occurs selectively over hydrocarbons in the environment. In some embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure also include a step of releasing captured CO 2 from porous carbon materials. In some embodiments, the releasing occurs without any heating steps by decreasing environmental pressure. In some embodiments, the methods of the present disclosure also include a step of disposing released CO 2 and reusing porous carbon materials. Additional embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to porous carbon materials that are used for CO 2 capture.

Claims (67)

1 . A method of capturing CO 2 from an environment, wherein the method comprises:

associating the environment with a porous carbon material,

wherein the porous carbon material comprises a plurality of pores and a plurality of nucleophilic moieties, and

wherein the associating results in sorption of the CO 2 to the porous carbon material.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the environment is selected from the group consisting of industrial gas streams, natural gas streams, natural gas wells, industrial gas wells, oil and gas fields, and combinations thereof.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the environment is a pressurized environment.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the environment has a total pressure higher than atmospheric pressure.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the environment has a total pressure of about 5 bar to about 500 bar.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the associating occurs by placing the porous carbon material at or near the environment.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the associating occurs by flowing the environment through a structure that contains the porous carbon materials.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sorption of the CO 2 to the porous carbon material occurs by at least one of absorption, adsorption, ionic interactions, physisorption, chemisorption, covalent bonding, non-covalent bonding, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals interactions, and combinations thereof.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sorption of the CO 2 to the porous carbon material occurs above atmospheric pressure.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sorption of the CO 2 to the porous carbon material occurs at total pressures ranging from about 5 bar to about500 bar.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sorption of the CO 2 to the porous carbon material occurs at a partial CO 2 pressure of about 0.1 bar to about 100 bar.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sorption of the CO 2 to the porous carbon material occurs without heating the porous carbon material.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sorption of the CO 2 to the porous carbon material occurs selectively over hydrocarbons in the environment.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the molecular ratio of sorbed CO 2 to sorbed hydrocarbons in the porous carbon material is greater than about 2

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the CO 2 is converted to poly(CO 2 ) within the pores of the porous carbon materials

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of releasing the captured CO 2 from the porous carbon material.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the releasing occurs by decreasing the pressure of the environment.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the releasing occurs by placing the porous carbon material in a second environment, wherein the second environment has a lower pressure than the environment where CO 2 capture occurred.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the releasing occurs at or below atmospheric pressure.

20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the releasing occurs at total pressures ranging from about 0 bar to about 100 bar.

21 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the releasing occurs at the same temperature at which CO 2 sorption occurred.

22 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the releasing occurs without heating the porous carbon material.

23 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the releasing occurs through depolymerization of formed poly(CO 2 ).

24 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising a step of disposing the released CO 2 .

25 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising a step of reusing the porous carbon material after the releasing step to capture additional CO 2 from an environment.

26 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon material is selected from the group consisting of nucleophilic polymers, polypeptides, proteins, waste materials, nitrogen-containing porous carbon materials, sulfur-containing porous carbon materials, metal-containing porous carbon materials, metal-oxide containing porous carbon materials, metal sulfide-containing porous carbon materials, phosphorus containing porous carbon materials, and combinations thereof.

27 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon material comprises a nucleophilic polymer.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the nucleophilic polymer is selected from the group consisting of nitrogen-containing polymers, sulfur-containing polymers, polythiophene (PTH), polythiophene-methanol (2-(hydroxymethyl)thiophene), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polypyrrole, and combinations thereof.

29 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the nucleophilic polymer is carbonized.

30 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the nucleophilic polymer is reduced.

31 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties are part of the porous carbon material.

32 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties are embedded within the plurality of the pores of the porous carbon material.

33 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties are selected from the group consisting of primary nucleophiles, secondary nucleophiles, tertiary nucleophiles and combinations thereof.

34 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties are selected from the group consisting of oxygen-containing moieties, sulfur-containing moieties, metal-containing moieties, metal oxide-containing moieties, metal sulfide-containing moieties, nitrogen-containing moieties, phosphorus-containing moieties, and combinations thereof.

35 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties comprise nitrogen-containing moieties.

36 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the nitrogen-containing moieties are selected from the group consisting of primary amines, secondary amines, tertiary amines, nitrogen oxides, and combinations thereof.

37 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties comprise sulfur-containing moieties.

38 . The method of claim 37 , wherein the sulfur-containing moieties are selected from the group consisting of primary sulfurs, secondary sulfurs, sulfur oxides, and combinations thereof.

39 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon material has surface areas ranging from about 1,000 m 2 /g to about 3,000 m 2 /g.

40 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of pores in the porous carbon material comprise diameters ranging from about 5 nm to about 100 nm.

41 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of pores in the porous carbon material comprise volumes ranging from about 1 cm 3 /g to about 10 cm 3 /g.

42 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon material has a density ranging from about 0.3 g/cm 3 to about 4 g/cm 3 .

43 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon material has a CO 2 sorption capacity ranging from about 10% to about 200% of the porous carbon material weight.

44 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous carbon material has a CO 2 sorption capacity of about 55% to about 90% of the porous carbon material weight.

45 . A porous carbon material for CO 2 capture, wherein the porous carbon material comprises a plurality of pores and a plurality of nucleophilic moieties.

46 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the porous carbon material is selected from the group consisting of nucleophilic polymers, polypeptides, proteins, waste materials, nitrogen-containing porous carbon materials, sulfur-containing porous carbon materials, metal-containing porous carbon materials, metal-oxide containing porous carbon materials, metal sulfide containing porous carbon materials, phosphorus containing porous materials, and combinations thereof.

47 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the porous carbon material comprises a nucleophilic polymer.

48 . The porous carbon material of claim 47 , wherein the nucleophilic polymer is selected from the group consisting of nitrogen-containing polymers, sulfur-containing polymers, polythiophene (PTH), polythiophene-methanol (2-(hydroxymethyl)thiophene), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polypyrrole, and combinations thereof.

49 . The porous carbon material of claim 48 , wherein the nucleophilic polymer is carbonized.

50 . The porous carbon material of claim 48 , wherein the nucleophilic polymer is reduced.

51 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties are part of the porous carbon material.

52 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties are embedded within the plurality of the pores of the porous carbon material.

53 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties are selected from the group consisting of primary nucleophiles, secondary nucleophiles, tertiary nucleophiles and combinations thereof.

54 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties are selected from the group consisting of oxygen-containing moieties, sulfur-containing moieties, metal-containing moieties, metal oxide-containing moieties, metal sulfide-containing moieties, phosphorus containing moieties, nitrogen-containing moieties, and combinations thereof.

55 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties comprise nitrogen-containing moieties.

56 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the nitrogen-containing moieties are selected from the group consisting of primary amines, secondary amines, tertiary amines, nitrogen oxides, and combinations thereof.

57 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the nucleophilic moieties comprise sulfur-containing moieties.

58 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the sulfur-containing moieties are selected from the group consisting of primary sulfurs, secondary sulfurs, sulfur oxides, and combinations thereof.

59 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the porous carbon material has surface areas ranging from about 1,000 m 2 /g to about 3,000 m 2 /g.

60 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the plurality of pores in the porous carbon material comprise diameters ranging from about 5 nm to about 100 nm.

61 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the plurality of pores in the porous carbon material comprise volumes ranging from about 1 cm 3 /g to about 10 cm 3 /g.

62 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the porous carbon material has a density ranging from about 0.3 g/cm 3 to about 4 g/cm 3 .

63 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the porous carbon material has a CO 2 sorption capacity ranging from about 10% to about 200% of the porous carbon material weight.

64 . The porous carbon material of claim 45 , wherein the porous carbon material has a CO 2 sorption capacity of about 55% to about 90% of the porous carbon material weight.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 9, 2014
From: TOUR, JAMES M.; HWANG, CHIH-CHAU; TOUR, JOSIAH
To: WILLIAM MARSH RICE UNIVERSITY
Reel/Frame 033921/0905 →