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EP-4374951-B1 - APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR CAPTURING CARBON USING FUEL

EP4374951B1EP 4374951 B1EP4374951 B1EP 4374951B1EP-4374951-B1

Inventors

  • NA, Si Young

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20231005

Claims (14)

  1. A carbon capture device, comprising: an air cartridge (120) in which a gas comprising a carbon component is introduced; a fuel cartridge (110) in which a fuel is injected; a fuel cell stack (140); a fuel supply line supplying the fuel between the fuel cartridge (110) and the fuel cell stack (140); and a controller (132), wherein the fuel cell stack (140) comprises: an anode unit (1210) comprising the fuel cartridge (110) and a fuel electrode (145, 1212) in which an oxidation reaction of the fuel supplied from the fuel supply line takes place, and a cathode unit (1230) comprising the air cartridge (120) and an air electrode (149, 1232) in which a reduction reaction of gas introduced from the air cartridge (120) takes place, wherein a carbon capture product is generated based on the reduction reaction in the cathode unit (1230); an electrolyte unit comprising an electrolyte to transfer metal ions generated by the oxidation reaction of the fuel between the cathode and the cathode, wherein the cathode unit comprises an electrode exchange module to replace the air electrode (149); characterised in that the controller (132) is configured to: control supplying of the fuel supplied to the anode unit through the fuel supply line, control supplying of the gas transferred to the cathode unit (1230), determine whether to replace the air electrode (149) or the electrolyte unit based on the carbon capture product, and determine to replace the electrolyte unit based on the electrical conductivity of the air electrode (149) being less than a predetermined level or replace the air electrode (149) based on the amount of the carbon capture product accumulated in the air electrode (149) exceeds a specified level.
  2. The carbon capture device of claim 1, wherein the controller (132) is configured to: control a temperature of the fuel cartridge (110) to make the injected fuel in a liquid or gaseous state, transfer the liquid or gaseous fuel to the anode unit using the fuel supply line, control generating of the carbon capture product based on a chemical reaction of the gas and the metal ions in the cathode unit, and use energy generated from the chemical reaction in the cathode unit to control the temperature of the fuel cartridge (110).
  3. The carbon capture device of claim 1, wherein the controller (132) is configured to: control a temperature inside the fuel cell stack (140) so that the carbon capture product generated in the cathode unit (1230) can be discharged through the fuel supply line in a fluid state, and discharge the carbon capture product in the fluid state outside using the fuel supply line.
  4. The carbon capture device of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to output information to a user indicating that the replacement is necessary based on the determination to replace the air electrode (149) or the electrolyte unit.
  5. The carbon capture device of claim 1, wherein the air electrode (149) is physically connected to the electrode replacement module, and is configured in a cartridge form or a compartment form to be separated from the cathode unit (1230), and wherein the controller (132) is configured to separate the air electrode (149) automatically by operating the electrode replacement module based on the determination to replace the air electrode (149).
  6. The carbon capture device of claim 1, wherein the controller (132) is configured to control at least any one of a pressure of fuel supply, a flow rate, a temperature at which a state of the fuel can be maintained in a liquid or gaseous state, or a supply amount.
  7. The carbon capture device of claim 1, wherein the air cartridge (120) comprises: an air fan (122); an air filter (124); and an air control module (126), wherein the air fan (122) collects air and carbon dioxide in atmosphere into the air cartridge (120) through rotation, wherein the air filter (124) filters the air collected through the air fan (122), and wherein the air control module (126) is configured to measure a state of air including at least one of temperature, humidity, or wind speed, and control at least one of a rotation speed of the air fan, an air compression ratio, a pressure in the carbon capture device, or a flow rate in the carbon capture device based on the measured state of the air.
  8. The carbon capture device of claim 2, wherein the fuel cartridge (110) comprises: a heating module (114); a chamber (112); and a fuel injection module (116), wherein the heating module (114) is configured to sense a temperature inside the chamber (112) and supply heat to the chamber (112), wherein the chamber (112) stores the fuel introduced, and heats the fuel inside the chamber using the heat transferred from the heating module (114), and wherein the fuel injection module is connected to the fuel supply line to discharge the liquid or gaseous fuel outside of the fuel cartridge (110).
  9. The carbon capture device of claim 9, wherein the fuel injection module (116) uses a compressor or a pump to introduce pressure to supply fuel to the anode unit of the fuel cell stack (140), and wherein the controller (132) is configured to: retrieve the fuel that has not burned in the fuel cell stack (140) through the fuel supply line, heat the retrieved fuel at the fuel cartridge (110), and supply the fuel back to the fuel cell stack (140).
  10. The carbon capture device of claim 1, further comprising a battery (150), wherein the battery (150) is configured to: store electrical energy generated in the fuel cell stack (140), and supply the stored electrical energy to the fuel cartridge (110), or transfer the stored electrical energy to outside.
  11. The carbon capture device of claim 1, further comprising at least one line distinguished from the fuel supply line, wherein the controller (132) is configured to move the carbon capture product generated in the cathode unit or the electrolyte in the electrolyte unit using the at least one line.
  12. The carbon capture device of claim 1, wherein the fuel supply line is formed with a curve, supplying liquid or gaseous fuel to the fuel cell stack, and retrieving unburned fuel to the fuel cartridge again, and discharge the carbon capture product generated in the cathode unit (1230).
  13. The carbon capture device of claim 1, wherein the fuel comprises at least one of a metal fuel, a metal salt, an alloy, or an electride, and wherein the fuel comprises at least one of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra, Al, Sn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Ag, Ni, Cd, and Fe as a component.
  14. The carbon capture device of claim 1, wherein the fuel electrode (145) in the anode unit or the air electrode (149) in the cathode unit (1230) comprises at least one of a carbon electrode, a graphite electrode, a metal-carbon composite electrode, a nano material electrode, a catalyst composite electrode, a semiconducting electrode, a polymer electrode, a metal mash-shaped electrode, an organic/inorganic composite material electrode, a liquid-type electrode, a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) electrode, a graphene electrode, a carbon nanotube (CNT) electrode, or an oxidized metal species electrode.

Description

[Technical Field] The present document relates to a carbon capture system and method using a fuel cell, and more specifically, to a technology of capturing carbon dioxide in air using a metal-air cell. [Background Art] As a representative secondary battery that can repeatedly charge and discharge, a lithium-ion battery includes an anode using lithium oxide, a cathode that reversibly absorbs and releases lithium ions from the anode and acts to flow current through an external circuit, an electrolyte that moves lithium ions, and a separator that allows only ions to move through a fine pore inside. In addition, fuel cells are used to generate electrical energy by electrochemically reacting a fuel (for example, metals) and oxidants (for example, air). Chemical reactions of fuel cells can be performed by a catalyst. Fuel cells can continuously generate power if fuel is supplied and functions of each component are normally operated. US 2013/0122382 A1 discloses a carbon dioxide separator with a fuel cell stack and temperature control. For metal air batteries, specific metals (for example, iron, zinc, magnesium, aluminum) can be used for the anode and air electrodes can be used for the cathode. Since the metal air battery uses air as an active material for the cathode, it can be relatively light in weight compared to pre-fueled cells. US 2013/0106359 A1 discloses a metal air battery with a recyclable CO2-selective absorber. KR 2020 0002043 A discloses a fuel cell system comprising a cathode electrode and an anode electrode formed on an electrolyte membrane. Meanwhile, due to the increasing environmental concerns, a carbon direct capture (or, direct air capture, DAC) and carbon capture and storage (CCS, hereinafter, referred to as "carbon capture storage") technology have been actively studied recently. Carbon direct capture refers to technologies and systems that chemically and physically capture and remove carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global climate change, directly from the Earth's atmosphere using machines and devices. Carbon capture storage (CCS) refers to technologies and systems that remove, capture, store, and utilize carbon dioxide from gases such as exhaust gases using physical or chemical methods. Carbon capture storage (CCS) and direct air capture (DAC) are attracting attention as direct solutions for solving global climate changes, and they can be used in complementary manner. [Disclosure] [Technical Problem] In the present document, as a method for solving global climate changes, a method of applying carbon capture technology to fuel cell technology is disclosed. In order to continuously absorb carbon in the atmosphere using the fuel cell system, continuous supply of fuel to be supplied and removal of carbon compounds generated as battery by-product are required. For fuel cells, metals may be used as fuel, and general metals may be present in a solid state at room temperature. Solid fuel may be difficult to be introduced into the fuel cell system due to the size thereof, and in the case of a solid metal, it may be difficult to separate and introduce metal. Since the solid has a relatively small surface area compared to a liquid or gas, the solid may have low reactivity with air in the fuel cell system. In case that a metal with a relatively high reactivity such as an alkali metal is used to increase reactivity, there may be limitations in that the fuel is consumed by reacting with air before being introduced into the fuel cell system or it is difficult to manage. In addition, the fuel metal and air react to form carbon captures containing carbons to be captured in the atmosphere, and carbon compounds may be generated and accumulated in the cathode unit or the air electrode. Since the carbon compound accumulated in the air electrode makes it difficult to function as an electrode by lowering electrical conductivity, it may be necessary to periodically replace the air electrode. However, since the air electrode is inside the fuel cell system, it may be difficult to replace only the air electrode, and it may not be reasonable to replace the entire fuel cell in terms of environmental aspects or costs when the remaining components (e.g., the electrolyte unit, the separator, and the fuel electrode) have a good condition. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a metal-air fuel cell with direct air capture (DAC) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) functions is provided. The present invention can be continuously used while directly capturing carbon dioxide from the air, and addresses the problems of prior art ion cell and metal-air cell technologies that require energy-consuming and technically complex devices. Meanwhile, the technical problems to be solved in the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described technical problems, and the problems not mentioned may be clearly understood by those skilled in the art to which the disclosure belongs from the present specifi