In The News

Research being carried out on the use of ionic liquids for CO2 capture by the groups led by Profs. Maginn, Brennecke and Schneider was highlighted In the July 13, 2007 edition of Science. The article "Making Dirty Coal Plants Cleaner" notes that the 600 coal-fired power plants in the U.S. produce about 30% of the 7 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases emitted by all U.S. humanmade sources, easily surpassing the amount produced by cars and all other industries combined. It notes that new technologies are needed to capture CO2, since the fraction of U.S. electricity produced by coal is expected to climb from 48% to 55% by 2030. China, which recently passed the U.S. as the largest CO2 emitter, generates 80% of its electricity from coal.

The research being carried out at Notre Dame is funded by the Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory, and includes partnerships with Babcock and Wilcox, DTE, EMD Chemicals, Trimeric Inc. and Air Products.