Title: R&D of a New DAC Technology Using LNG Cold Toward Demonstration
Time and Date: Friday, November 14, 2025 at 2:00PM
Location: CHBE 102 (2360 East Mall)
Abstract
Direct air capture (DAC) is a critical option for achieving net-negative emissions, but its thermal and electrical demands remain substantial. This talk introduces Cryo-DAC®, a cryogenic DAC technology that leverages the cold exergy available during LNG regasification to drive the separation of CO₂ from air. The project is being advanced through a strong academia–industry consortium—including gas distribution utilities, EPC contractors, and materials manufacturers—that contributes operational expertise and high-performance materials to accelerate design iterations and de-risk scale-up. The talk will present our latest efforts in validating the concept’s advantages, operating a bench-scale plant, and developing CO₂ absorbents.
Biography
Koyo Norinaga is Professor and Director of the Research Center for Net Zero Carbon Society at Nagoya University, Japan. He received his B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Hokkaido University. He served as Assistant Professor at Tohoku University (1999–2002) and, as an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow, worked as a senior scientist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (2002–2006). From 2006 to 2017 he was an Associate Professor at Hokkaido and Kyushu Universities. His research spans CO2 capture and utilization, thermochemical conversion of biomass, and modeling and simulation of chemically reacting flows. He currently leads government- and private-sector collaborations with more than 15 companies to develop processes for closing the carbon cycle. Since 2020, he has managed a national Moonshot project on energy-saving direct air capture using LNG cold energy. He has 160+ publications and 150+ invited talks.