| Laminar scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from air and methods of use -> Monitor Keywords |
|
|
  Laminar scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from air and methods of useUSPTO Application #: 20060289003Title: Laminar scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from air and methods of use Abstract: The present invention is directed to methods for carbon dioxide from air, which comprises exposing solvent covered surfaces to air streams where the airflow is kept laminar, or close to the laminar regime. The invention also provides for an apparatus, which is a laminar scrubber, comprising solvent covered surfaces situated such that they can be exposed to air streams such that the airflow is kept laminar. (end of abstract)
Agent: Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale And Dorr LLP - New York, NY, US Inventors: Klaus S. Lackner, Allen Wright USPTO Applicaton #: 20060289003 - Class: 128200240 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Surgery, Respiratory Method Or Device The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060289003. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/603,121, filed Aug. 20, 2004 and is incorporated by reference in its entirety. [0002] This patent disclosure contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves any and all copyright rights. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0003] The present invention relates generally to the field of extractors, including those that work to extract carbon dioxide. The present invention relates to carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) removal under ambient conditions from the open air without heating or cooling the air. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0004] Extracting carbon dioxide from ambient air would make it possible to use carbon based fuels and deal with the greenhouse gas emissions after the fact. Since CO.sub.2 is neither poisonous nor harmful in parts per million quantities but creates environmental problems simply by accumulating in the atmosphere, it is possible to remove carbon dioxide from air in order to compensate for an equally sized emission elsewhere and at different times. The overall scheme of air capture has been described elsewhere. [0005] The production of carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) occurs in a variety of industrial applications, such as the generation of electricity in by burning coal in power plants. Flue gas from coal-burning power plants typically contains a high percentage of nitrogen, about 13% CO.sub.2, about 3% oxygen, about 10% water and less than 1% of various pollutants. To sequester CO.sub.2 during the operation of coal burners in power plants, CO.sub.2 must be separated from the flue gas, which is hot, e.g., temperatures from about 200.degree. C. to about 1000.degree. C. depending on its specific locations in the flue gas lines of the coal-burning power plant. In a carbon constrained world, central sources of CO.sub.2 like power plants are likely to capture their own CO.sub.2 from the power plant stack. [0006] Hydrocarbons are typically the main components of fuels that are combusted in combustion devices, such as engines. Exhaust gas discharged from such combustion devices contains carbon dioxide gas, which at present is simply released to the atmosphere. However, as greenhouse gas concerns mount, carbon dioxide emissions from all sources will have to be curtailed. [0007] Scrubber designs for separating CO.sub.2 from air already exist, but they are limited to packed bed type implementations whose goal is typically to remove all traces of an impurity from another gas. The disadvantages in the art are addressed and overcome by the carbon dioxide separation membranes and methods of use thereof as embraced by the present invention. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] The present invention is directed to methods for carbon dioxide from air, which comprises exposing solvent covered surfaces to air streams where the airflow is kept laminar, or close to the laminar regime. The invention also provides for an apparatus which is a laminar scrubber, comprising solvent covered surfaces situated such that they can be exposed to air streams such that the airflow is kept laminar. The following descriptions of the invention include many embodiments and aspects, all of which can be attributable to either the method or the apparatus claimed, even if not so explicitly stated. [0009] Capture of carbon dioxide on board of a vehicle while possible in principle is not practical because of the large amount of weight involved. Therefore our invention aims at capturing carbon dioxide from the air at a later time. The purpose of the removal of carbon dioxide from the air is to balance out the carbon dioxide emission resulting from the operation of vehicle. While the most obvious source of carbon dioxide emissions that could be remedied by this invention are those for which it would be difficult or impossible to capture the CO.sub.2 at the point of emission, the invention is not restricted to such sources but could compensate for any source as well. Indeed this approach of carbon dioxide mitigation could be used to lower the atmospheric concentration of CO.sub.2. [0010] Efficient capture of carbon dioxide from air requires a sorbent that can absorb CO.sub.2, processes that heat or cool the air, or that change the pressure of the air by substantial amounts will be energetically disadvantaged. [0011] The apparatus consists of a scrubber design which provides essentially straight flow paths for the air that is blowing through the device. Sorbent covered surfaces are within millimeters to centimeters of the flow path of every air parcel. The simplest embodiment is a set of flat plates with the air moving through the gaps between the plates and the sorbent flowing over the surfaces. In the simplest design these plates stand upright so that wetting of both surfaces can be performed with equal ease. However a variety of other designs describe below can vary from this simple design. These include but are not limited to corrugated surfaces, concentric tubes etc. [0012] In one aspect of the invention, the surfaces are smooth parallel plates. In another aspect, the surfaces are not entirely flat, but follow straight parallel lines in the direction of the airflow. Examples include but are not limited to corrugations, pipes or tubes, angular shapes akin to harmonica covers. The invention provides for methods where the surfaces are roughened with grooves, dimples, bumps or other small structures that are smaller than the surface spacing and that remain well within the laminar boundary of the air flow, i.e., the Reynolds number of the flow around these dimples is small, in an optimum it is between 0 and 100. [0013] The present invention is directed to implementations of the above method where surface roughening has been obtained through sand blasting or other similar means. In one aspect of the invention, the surface roughening can be obtained by etching. [0014] In another aspect of the invention, the apparatus contains surfaces that are part of plates made from steel or other hydroxide resistant metals. In one aspect of the invention, the plates are made from glass. In another aspect, the plates are made from plastics, including but not limited to polypropylene. [0015] In yet another aspect of the invention, the surfaces are foils or other thin films that are held taught by wires and supported by taught wire or wire netting. The invention provides for an apparatus where all but a supporting wire in the front and the back run parallel to the wind flow direction. In one aspect, the films are supported on a rigid structure. For example, the rigid structure can be a solid plate, a honeycomb, or latticework that can lend structural rigidity to the films. The invention is not limited to these examples. [0016] The invention also provides for an apparatus and method where the films are made from plastic foils. The invention provides for an apparatus and method where the plastic foil has been surface treated to increase the hydrophilicity of the surface. Such treatments can be state of the art or represent novel treatments. In another aspect of the invention, an apparatus or method is provided where surfaces have been coated or treated to increase hydrophilicity of the plates. [0017] The method or apparatus of the invention further provides that the direction of the airflow is horizontal. The method or apparatus of the invention provides that the the surfaces--or the line of symmetry of the surfaces--is vertical. The invention provides for where the liquid solvent flow is at right angle to the airflow. The invention provides for a method and an apparatus where the surface spacing is between 0.3 centimeters (cm) and 3 cm. In another embodiment, the surface length at right angle to the airflow direction is between 0.30 m to 10 m. In another embodiment, the airflow speed is between 0.1 meters per second (m/s) and 10 m/s. In another embodiment, the distance of airflow between the surfaces is between 0.10 m and 2 m. [0018] In one embodiment of the invention, liquid solvent is applied by means of spraying a flow onto the upper edge of the surface. In another embodiment, the solvent is applied to both sides of the plates. In another embodiment, the solvent is applied in a pulsed manner. In another embodiment, the liquid solvent is collected at the bottom of the surfaces or plates in a catch tray. [0019] In another embodiment of the method and apparatus, the collected fluid or CO.sub.2 solvent is immediately passed on to a recovery unit. In another embodiment, the collected fluid is recycled to the top of the scrubbing unit for additional CO.sub.2 collection. [0020] In another embodiment of the method or apparatus of the invention, the apparatus is equipped with airflow straighteners to minimize losses from misalignment between the surfaces and the instantaneous wind field. Continue reading... Full patent description for Laminar scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from air and methods of use Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Laminar scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from air and methods of use patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Laminar scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from air and methods of use or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Inhalation therapy device Next Patent Application: Air purifying escape hood Industry Class: Surgery ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Laminar scrubber apparatus for capturing carbon dioxide from air and methods of use patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 3.9283 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Medical: Surgery , Surgery(2) , Surgery(3) , Drug , Drug(2) , Prosthesis , Dentistry |
||
