Joe Sagues
NCSU
BAE
Bio
Dr. Joe Sagues is the Principal Investigator of the Biocarbon Utilization & Sequestration (BUS) Lab in the Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department at NC State University. He has experience in research, development, and demonstration of innovative bioprocessing technologies at corporations, startup companies, universities, and national labs. The BUS Lab takes an integrated approach to innovate technologies that utilize and sequester biogenic carbon, with a specific interest in waste materials generated along food production supply chains. The aim of his work is to leverage the bioeconomy for carbon drawdown. He is bridging fundamental advances in synthetic biology and chemical catalysis with bioprocess engineering to innovate carbon-negative bioproducts that range from feed, chemicals, fuels, and materials. When developing a new technology, the BUS Lab takes into account the entire technology-to-market pathway, starting with fundamental research and ending with commercialization. Such a comprehensive approach increases the odds of commercial success by eliminating developmental hurdles and pitfalls at an early stage.
Area(s) of Expertise
Title: Carbonic anhydrase and the path to cost-effective MDEA CO2 capture
With the increasing urgency for global decarbonization, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) remains essential but faces substantial economic challenges. Conventional amine solvent-based capture methods are limited by high energy requirements and heavy capital investment.
Tertiary amines like methyl diethanolamine (MDEA) offer advantages in terms of thermal stability, lower energy regeneration, and reduced degradation; however, their slow CO2 absorption kinetics hinder these benefits. We examine the transformative potential of applying Carbonic Anhydrase (CA) to address these limitations. As a biocatalyst, CA drastically enhances the kinetics of capture solvents. By accelerating absorption rates, enzyme-assisted CO2 capture enables the use of energy-efficient solvents, effectively reducing absorber column sizing and lowering the thermal energy required for regeneration.
This study presents a preliminary techno-economic analysis (TEA) of a CA-enhanced MDEA solvent system to quantify the economic benefits of enzyme integration, discussing how these improvements facilitate the transition from bench-scale demonstration to industrial implementation, and illustrating how biological efficiency can drive the cost reductions necessary for widespread commercial adoption.