Events

Amine scrubbing has been in commercial use for nearly a century, with applications in gas treating (1930s), air purification (1950s), post combustion capture (1990s), and air capture (2010s).  In recent years, smaller-scale carbon capture systems have gained increasing interest with marine, transport, and genset applications.  The efficient development of such systems draws on expertise from producers of the world’s two most traded products: petroleum ($1.3T/a) and cars ($1T/a).

Aramco is working on bridging this divide by developing technology which redefines what “modular carbon capture” means. Our work reimagines carbon capture for mass-produced, space- and height-constrained, and remotely operated applications by leveraging and integrating innovations in equipment and system design, controls and automation, materials and manufacturing, and process chemistry – to develop systems which are economical, durable and scalable. 

In particular, this talk will highlight our recent work on the use of cross-flow absorber (XFA) technology as an enabler for highly-intensified, containerized CO2 capture systems.  XFAs reduce momentum transfer between the gas and liquid phases, alleviating flooding limits, while being more constructable than vertical absorption towers.  This talk will review Aramco’s R&D on XFA and other absorber technologies as well as pioneering work in unconventional packings, solvent development, non-metallics, and corrosion as building-block technologies with applications beyond CO₂ capture.

Alexander Voice has worked as a research scientist at Aramco’s Detroit Research Center for twelve years.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He has co-authored more than 50 scientific publications and has over ten granted patents. His work at Aramco aims to develop practical solutions for reducing the cost and emissions from energy and transportation systems, through applied research and incremental innovation.