Capstone

Cryogenic Solids Separation

Sponsor: Sustainable Energy Solutions, LLC

Team: Cyrosep

Coach: Jerry Bowman

Students: Jeff Krise, Tommy Hyatt, Matt Hortin, Greg Von Forell, Garrett Bodily, Andrew Baxter, Jeremy Hartvigsen.

Concern regarding global warming is causing many countries to impose environmental restrictions on industrial CO2 producers, such as power plants. The industry has a need of an efficient way to remove and sequester CO2 from their exhaust (or “flue”) gases.

Sustainable Energy Solutions (SES), has proposed a separation process that could compete with existing techniques for separation. The flue gas will be cooled to the point where the CO2 will solidify. The solid CO2 can then be separated from the flue gas, liquefied, and sequestered.

The BYU Capstone team developed three major systems that would help in this process. They developed a snow generation machine which produces a solid-gas mix by using liquid CO2 from high pressure cylinders. They also designed a solid-gas seperation machine. Last of all they developed a CO2 liquefaction machine. It utilizes an auger-fed pressure vessel which is intended to continuously collect and liquefy solid CO2.

2008/2009 Projects

• ATK Launch Systems
• Boeing (Auburn)
• Boeing (Everett)
• Burr Oak Tool, Inc.
• BYU
• Care for Life
• General Mills, Inc.
• Schlumberger
• Sustainable Energy Solutions, LLC
• Varian Medical Systems