The Carbon Capture Lab is an integrated platform that allows students and researchers to explore CO₂ capture, monitoring, processing, and utilization through real experiments. Instead of focusing solely on simulations or theoretical exercises, the lab is engineered to perform practical, measurable experiments that reveal the behaviour of carbon capture processes under controlled conditions.
At its core, the lab enables learners to understand how carbon dioxide — a major greenhouse gas — can be separated from gas streams, quantified, stored, and processed into stable forms. The lab brings together multiple modules that together create a complete experimental workflow for carbon capture technologies.
1. Gas Flow and CO₂ Introduction: The lab begins with a controlled source of carbon dioxide or CO₂-rich gas, allowing learners to introduce CO₂ into the experimental setup at desired flow rates. Instruments monitor gas composition, flow rate, and pressure, enabling students to study how CO₂ behaves in flowing streams and under different operational conditions.
2. Absorption and Capture Mechanisms: One of the key functionalities of the lab is its gas absorption module, where CO₂ is captured from a gas stream using absorbents or capture media. Students can measure how variables like flow rate, temperature, and absorbent concentration affect the capture efficiency. This hands-on work demonstrates the principles behind industrial carbon capture technologies, such as solvent or sorbent-based capture systems, where CO₂ is selectively removed from flue gases or air.
3. Monitoring and Instrumentation: The lab is equipped with real-time gas sensors and analytical instruments that monitor CO₂ concentration before and after capture. Students can observe how capture efficiency changes with process conditions, and they can plot and analyze capture performance curves. These measurements help solidify understanding of capture kinetics and process optimization.
4. Conversion and Utilization Experiments: Beyond capture, the lab enables experimentation on carbon utilization pathways — such as converting captured CO₂ into stable compounds like carbonates (e.g., converting CO₂ to CaCO₃) or feeding CO₂ into processes where it can be further used as a feedstock. This module introduces learners to carbon utilization (CCU) concepts, which are increasingly applied in sustainable materials and carbon-neutral production processes.
5. Data Analysis and Research Applications: All experiments come with comprehensive data acquisition and visualization tools, allowing learners to collect, plot, and interpret results. Students can correlate variables like absorbent type, operating temperature, and gas concentration with capture performance, enabling research-level experiments, optimization studies, and comparative analysis.
What You Can Do in the Lab
In this lab, learners can:
- Perform CO₂ capture experiments with varying flow rates and absorbents
- Analyze capture efficiency and process parameters
- Monitor gas composition in real time
- Explore conversion of CO₂ into stable forms
- Collect experimental data for research and reports
- Compare different carbon capture techniques
- Apply learnings to industrial and climate-technology contexts
Why It Matters
As global efforts intensify to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide and meet climate targets, understanding carbon capture and utilization technologies has become a critical skill in engineering and environmental science. The Ecosense Carbon Capture Lab translates these emerging technologies from industrial settings into classroom-scale, hands-on learning platforms — helping the next generation of engineers and researchers develop real, applicable expertise.
