Ultra-thin enzymatic liquid membrane for CO2 separation and capture

Yaqin Fu; Ying-Bing Jiang; Darren Dunphy; Haifeng Xiong; Eric Coker; Stanley S Chou; Hongxia Zhang; Juan M Vanegas; Jonas G Croissant; Joseph L Cecchi; Susan B Rempe; C Jeffrey Brinker

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03285-x

Ultra-thin enzymatic liquid membrane for CO₂ separation and capture

Nat Commun. 2018 Mar 7;9(1):990. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03285-x.

Authors

Yaqin Fu^{1

2}, Ying-Bing Jiang^{3

4

5}, Darren Dunphy^{1

2}, Haifeng Xiong^{1

2}, Eric Coker⁶, Stanley S Chou⁶, Hongxia Zhang⁷, Juan M Vanegas^{6

8}, Jonas G Croissant^{1

2}, Joseph L Cecchi¹, Susan B Rempe⁶, C Jeffrey Brinker^{9

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
² Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
³ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA. ybjiang@unm.edu.
⁴ Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA. ybjiang@unm.edu.
⁵ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA. ybjiang@unm.edu.
⁶ Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA.
⁷ Angstrom Thin Film Technologies LLC, Albuquerque, NM, 87113, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA.
⁹ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA. cjbrink@sandia.gov.
¹⁰ Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA. cjbrink@sandia.gov.
¹¹ Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA. cjbrink@sandia.gov.

Abstract

The limited flux and selectivities of current carbon dioxide membranes and the high costs associated with conventional absorption-based CO₂ sequestration call for alternative CO₂ separation approaches. Here we describe an enzymatically active, ultra-thin, biomimetic membrane enabling CO₂ capture and separation under ambient pressure and temperature conditions. The membrane comprises a ~18-nm-thick close-packed array of 8 nm diameter hydrophilic pores that stabilize water by capillary condensation and precisely accommodate the metalloenzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA). CA catalyzes the rapid interconversion of CO₂ and water into carbonic acid. By minimizing diffusional constraints, stabilizing and concentrating CA within the nanopore array to a concentration 10× greater than achievable in solution, our enzymatic liquid membrane separates CO₂ at room temperature and atmospheric pressure at a rate of 2600 GPU with CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/H₂ selectivities as high as 788 and 1500, respectively, the highest combined flux and selectivity yet reported for ambient condition operation.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't