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Carbonic anhydrase promoted absorption of CO 2 into potassium carbonate solutions
Author(s) -
Thee Hendy,
Smith Kathryn H.,
da Silva Gabriel,
Kentish Sandra E.,
Stevens Geoffrey W.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
greenhouse gases: science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.45
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2152-3878
DOI - 10.1002/ghg.1455
Subject(s) - carbonic anhydrase , chemistry , potassium carbonate , carbonate , absorption (acoustics) , inorganic chemistry , potassium , nuclear chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , enzyme , chromatography , organic chemistry , materials science , composite material
The effect of adding relatively small quantities of Novozymes NS81239 (NCA) carbonic anhydrase enzyme on the absorption of CO 2 into a 30 wt% potassium carbonate solution has been investigated. Results demonstrated that at 40°C the addition of 2 μM NCA enhances the pseudo‐first‐order rate coefficient and thus the overall absorption process of CO 2 into potassium carbonate solvents by around 30%. As the enzyme concentration is increased in the range of about 0 to 2 μM the enhancement increases according to a first order relationship, although further increasing the NCA concentration to 9 μM presented no greater catalytic effect than that from 2 μM. The rate coefficient for NCA catalyzed CO 2 hydration measured in 30 wt% K 2 CO 3 solution at 40°C in a wetted wall column is similar to that measured in dilute, neutral pH media at room temperature using stopped flow spectrophotometry. This work also demonstrates that, at a constant enzyme concentration, the overall absorption of CO 2 into carbonate solvents increases with temperature from 40°C to 60°C, whereas above this range an increase in temperature proves to be counter‐productive.