DEVELOPMENT OF AN ELECTROLYTIC CATION EXCHANGE MODULE (E - CEM) FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS EX TRACTION OF CARBON DIOXIDE FROM SEAWATER AND HYDROGEN GAS GENERATION: EFFECTS OF STRONG CATION EXCHANGE RESIN CAPACITY ON CARBON DIOXIDE PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY

A novel and innovative electrolytic cation exchange process has been developed to extract large quantities of CO 2 in the form of bicarbonate and carbonate from natural seawater, and to simultaneously produce H 2 gas in quantities and ratios intended for possible future production of hydrocarbons. However this process has been limited by its energy efficiency and carb on dioxide production efficiency caused by the amount of time needed to re - establish equilibrium conditions in the module after a polarity reversal cycle. To shorten the re - equilibrium times and improve carbon dioxide recovery, the strong cation exchange resin capacity in the electrode compartments was reduced from 2.1 eq/L to 1 eq/L. This 50% reduction in capacity resulted in 33% improvement in production time of CO 2 . In addition, quantitative gas sampling analyses of CO 2 confirmed the relationship between seawater salinity, seawater carbonate concentration, and seawater temperature on ease of CO 2 degassing from seawater.