Technology

Technology Overview

CO₂ Solution Inc. has developed a proprietary bio-technological platform for the efficient capture of carbon dioxide (CO₂), the most important greenhouse gas (GHG, from power plants and other large stationary sources of emission.

The technology platform exploits the natural power of a biocatalyst (enzyme), carbonic anhydrase (CA), which functions within humans and other mammals to manage CO₂ during respiration.  CO₂ Solution has successfully adapted the enzyme to function within a reactor so that it could act as an industrial lung to capture CO₂ from industrial flue (exhaust) gases. Once the CO₂ is captured, the enzyme assists in subsequent production of pure CO₂ for underground storage and/or use in oil recovery.  In this way, the Company has taken advantage of a biomimetic approach to CO₂ capture based on millions of years of evolution.

CO₂ Solution's technology has been proven successful at prototype scale. The prototype reactor underwent first testing in an industrial environment at Alcoa Inc.'s aluminum smelting facility at Deschambault, Quebec, Canada.  Subsequent to this, the Company conducted a continuous (24 / 7) trial of the prototype at the Quebec City, Canada waste incinerator.  This test demonstrated that the enzyme functioned effectively and was stable in a real world environment.

Placement of CO₂ Solution's Equipment In Coal Fired Power Plant

Conventional CO₂ capture with available technology, based primarily on the use of amine solvents, is an energy intensive process that involves heating the solvent to high temperature to strip the CO₂ (and regenerate the solvent) for underground sequestration.  The conventional use of amines involves an associated capture cost of approximately US $60 per ton of CO₂, which represents approximately 80% of the total cost of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).   This large cost for the capture portion has, to present, made large scale CCS unviable.

As an innovative solution to this problem, CO₂ Solution has achieved significant results in applying the enzyme to conventional capture solvents (amines and others) to improve their performance.  These results point to the ability of the enzyme to materially lower the cost of carbon capture by allowing a reduction in the size of the absorber equipment and lowering process energy requirements.

CO₂ Solution is presently commercializing its technology for coal fired power generation, the oil sands and other CO₂-intensive industries where a low-cost capture solution is key to meeting climate change legislation in a cost effective manner.