Sustainable, facile separation of the molten carbonate electrolysis cathode product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020149173-A1
Application number	US-201916667387-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 29, 2019
Priority date	Oct 29, 2018
Publication date	May 14, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A process for the separation of electrolyte from the carbon in a solid carbon/electrolyte cathode product formed at the cathode during molten carbonate electrolysis. The processes allows for easy separation of the solid carbon product from the electrolyte without any observed detrimental effect on the structure and/or stability of the resulting solid carbon nanomaterial.

First claim

1 . A process for preparing a solid carbon product by separating electrolyte from a solid carbon/molten electrolyte mixed product removed from the cathode of a carbonate electrolysis, the process comprising:
(i) applying a force to a solid carbon/molten electrolyte mixed product to remove the electrolyte; (ii) removing the force; and (iii) isolating the solid carbon product.

2 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein steps (i) and (ii) are repeated two, three or four times, prior to step (iii)

3 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the compression is conducted at a pressure of between about 10 psi and about 100,000 psi.

4 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte is removed through an interface with pores.

5 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the interface with pores comprises a porous carbon felt, a graphite felt, a metal mesh, a porous or sieve ceramic, or any combination thereof.

6 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the pore size of the interface is between about 10 μm and about 10 mm.

7 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process is conducted at a temperature between about 399° C. and about 900° C.

8 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises applying a vacuum during the separation process.

9 . The process according to claim 8 , wherein the process is conducted at a pressure between about 0.1 and about 0.9 atmospheres.

10 . The process according to claim 8 , wherein the process is conducted at a pressure less than about 0.1 atmospheres.

11 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process is conducted under a gas that is free or substantially free of oxygen.

12 . The process according to claim 11 , wherein the gas is selected from nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon, methane, ammonia, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and any combination thereof.

13 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the mixed product is cooled after its formation by electrolysis and reheated prior to a compression step.

14 . The process according to claim 1 , in which the solid carbon/molten electrolyte mixed product is compressed directly on the cathode in an electrolysis chamber.

15 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid carbon/molten electrolyte mixed product is moved from the cathode of an electrolysis chamber to an extraction compression chamber prior to compression.

16 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte is not a flowing electrolyte.

17 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte is not recirculated via a recirculation loop.

18 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid carbon product has an average thickness greater than 1 millimeter.

19 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid carbon product comprises greater than about 80% carbon nano-materials.

20 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid carbon product comprises greater than about 85% carbon nano-materials.

21 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid carbon product comprises greater than about 90% nano-materials.

22 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein solid carbon product comprises greater than about 95% carbon nano-materials.

23 . The process according to claim 19 , wherein the nano-materials comprise nano-fibers.

24 . The process according to claim 19 , wherein the nano-materials comprise nano-tubes.

25 . The process according to claim 19 , wherein the nano-materials comprise nano-onions.

26 . The process according to claim 19 , wherein the nano-materials comprise nano-platelets.

27 . The process according to claim 19 , wherein the nano-materials comprise nano-scaffolds.

28 . The process according to claim 19 , wherein the nano-materials comprise graphene.

29 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid carbon product is formed from raw carbon nano-material that agglomerates during the carbonate electrolysis and the isolating comprises filtering the solid carbon product with a filter having pores larger than the raw carbon nano-material.

30 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the solid carbon product comprises a paste.

31 . A system for separating material from raw product, comprising;
an extraction chamber retaining the raw product; a force applicator applying a force to the raw product in the extraction chamber; a collector chamber receiving material separated by the force applicator; and a filter positioned between the raw product and the collector chamber to filter material separated by the force applicator.

32 . The system of claim 31 , wherein the force comprises a compression force, torque, rotational force, or twisting force.

33 . The system of claim 31 , wherein the extraction chamber is vertically or horizontally aligned with the collector chamber.

34 . A system for separating electrolyte from a solid carbon/molten electrolyte mixed product of a carbonate electrolysis, the system comprising:
an electrolysis chamber having a cathode, electrode and the carbon/molten electrolyte, the cathode accumulating a paste product in response to the carbonate electrolysis; a compression apparatus applying a compression to the cathode and paste product to generate a carbon and electrolyte mix; a filter removing carbon from the carbon and electrolyte mix and passing electrolyte to the electrolysis chamber.

Assignees

• C2Cnt Llc

Inventors

• Licht Stuart
• Licht Gad

Classifications

• B01D2201/202

  Systems for applying pressure to filters · CPC title

• B01D2239/1216

  Pore size · CPC title

• C25B15/08 Primary

  Supplying or removing reactants or electrolytes; Regeneration of electrolytes · CPC title

• B01D29/92

  for discharging filtrate · CPC title

• B01D2201/30

  Filter housing constructions · CPC title