Microporous CO2 Capture Membranes Promoted by Carbonic Anhydrase-Mimetic Catalyst

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K14042
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 27010:Transport phenomena and unit operations-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: GHALEI Behnam 京都大学, 高等研究院, 特定准教授 (30725411)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: Gas separation / Membranes / Enzyme mimetic / CO2 capture

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Here, we develop novel mimic enzyme promoted CO2 facilitated transport membranes for CO2 capture. The hystidyl bolaamphiphile compound with amino acid heads and alkyl chain body was synthesized. The bolaamphiphile solution were incubated with ZnCl2 in different concentrations (0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 mM) to generate CA-mimetic particles through coordination of Zn2+ ions with the histidine imidazole groups. The self-assembled particles with the highest catalytic efficiency (~0.59 M-1.s-1) was selected as the nanofiller to enhance the CO2 separation performance of PEG-based polymers. The SEM image showed the uniform dispersion of the particles inside the polymer matrix due to the strong interactions. The significant enhancement (up to 100%) in the CO2/N2 selectivity of the composite membranes compared with the pure polymer matrices was observed. The high CO2 adsorption of the CA-mimic particles and their catalytic functionality are the main reasons for this observation.

Free Research Field

Membrane gas separation processes for CO2 capture

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

CO2 emission from fossil fuel combustion is the main cause for the climate change. Biological CO2 capture provides ecofriendly solution to address this issue. Here, a novel biomimetic enzyme synthesized and incorporated in polymers to fabricate high performance membranes for practical CO2 capture.