Silane is one of the few flammable compounds that readily combusts in a pure CO2 atmosphere producing a pure solid carbon byproduct.
Silane emerges as an attractive solution to dispensing with captured carbon dioxide. Currently, there exists no practical method to convert carbon dioxide to a more easily stored substance.
The principle of this cycle is combusting silane gas in a CO2 or CO2/argon atmosphere, using the CO2 as an oxidizer, producing energy via a supercritical CO2 turbine, emitting solid carbon and silicon dioxide, then separating the silicon dioxide from the solid carbon, to then reuse for other applications.
98% metallurgical grade silicon: $1500/ton, 0.85 per ton of silane
Potential silane cost including reactor capex, chlorine and hydrogen consumption: $3000-3200/ton
1 ton of silane = 2.75 tons/CO2 consumed
Biproducts to resale
1.87 tons silicon dioxide at $750/ton
0.75 tons carbon powder at $700/ton
Electricity: $600
Total downstream revenue potential: $2530
Potential price per ton of carbon dioxide reduced: $180-250 (no comparable method available to compare cost)
Advanced Energy Systems 