Energy and environment play a key role in modern society. In 2009, EU pledged a 20-20-20 pack to attain by 2020. A GHG emissions reduction goal of 20% below 1990 levels was set, but by 2050, a drop aim of 80-95% is envisioned. Thus, new low-carbon hi-tech solutions, emission policies and a sustainable waste management are top priorities to meet these goals.
Upon this scenario, this proposal seeks novel approaches to current gas adsorption processes, Adsorption technology is very promising due to its benefits (low cost, simple operation, versatile processes, etc) when compared with others like aqueous amine-based chemical absorption offered commercially, highly energy intensive and with equipment rust and absorbent degradation hitches. The proposal aims to contribute to a sustainable low-carbon economy and technology by pursuing 2 goals: i)GHG mitigation and ii)the newest strategies on renewable energy sources, still barely explored, such as biogas to biomethane.
Adsorbents with high performance and capable of capture CO2 or separate it from a biogas or flue gas are vital for the efficiency and reduction of energy consumption of any adsorption separation/capture processes. Thus, the focus in the development of advanced adsorbents is the core of this proposal. The strong link between materials science, physical-chemistry and chemical engineering is quite exciting and feasible due to the synergies and complementarities gathered in the proposal.
Porous solid materials have been emerging as potential adsorbents for CO2 separation and capture applications; the most common are zeolites and carbon materials, but MOFs have arisen as outstanding adsorbents and ideal candidates for these applications. Very currently, carbon-based composites derived from MOFs have drawn increasing attention in the application of gas adsorption and separation.
On the other hand, alternative green solvents for these applications have been used in a variety of industrial requests, due to their nonovolatile, high thermal stability and solvation properties. A fresh new concept considers them as carbon precursors due to their unique features and carbon-rich nature. The structures and properties of the final carbons can be controlled at the molecular level by rational design of those precursors.
At the industrial scale, CO2 separation from gas mixtures by adsorption is highly attractive if the adsorbents available have high capacity and selectivity for CO2 adsorption. Another option that has been deeply explored is the absorption capacity of green solvents. In this proposal, a plan was built to merge the best of these 2 worlds and obtain an advanced hybrid carbon as sorption media that can surpass the performance of the offered adsorbents in industrial processes. Hence, this project will contribute to the sustainable energy production strategies of the 21st century to reduce GHG emissions, namely CO2, which is one of the key aspects of the future energy and environmental policies.