Polymer-Dispersed Nanoparticles for Catalytic Carbon Capture in Natural Seawater*

Rapid technological advancement continuously increases energy consumption and demand, primarily satisfied by fossil fuel consumption. The reliance on fossil fuels results in substantial greenhouse gas emissions, with CO₂ being the most prominent contributor to global warming. This study investigates the catalytic performance of nickel nanoparticles (NiNPs) in natural seawater with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) polymers as an environmentally sustainable carbon capture solution. The catalytic characteristics of NiNPs were investigated by analyzing the change in diameter of CO₂ microbubble generated in specially designed flow-focusing geometry-based microchannel. We utilized NiNPs with diameters of 100 nm and 300 nm CMC concentrations of 100mg/L,200mg/L, and 300mg/L. Additionally, eight NiNP concentrations ranging from 6mg/L to 150mg/L were tested for CO₂ dissolution in seawater. The results show that, in different CMC and NiNP concentrations, a bell-shaped curve was formed when increasing the concentration, indicating the existence of optimized CMC and NiNP pair concentrations. The results also suggested that a concentration of 10mg/L NiNPs in 100mg/L CMC provided a maximum CO₂ dissolution of 57% under the test conditions. At CMC concentrations of 200mg/Land 300mg/L, the nine concentrations of 70mg/l and 90mg/l, CO₂ dissolution was found to be 58.8% and 67.2%, respectively. The study discusses practical solutions of the proposed solution in commercial carbon capture plants.