Organic Mixed Matrix Membrane Technologies (ORGMEMT) for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture

英国政府设定了到2050年将二氧化碳排放量减少80%的目标。如果我们要实现这些目标，从发电厂捕获燃烧后的二氧化碳是关键。由于废气流中的二氧化碳浓度较低，并且存在杂质（H2O、NOx、SOx等），因此燃烧后的二氧化碳捕获具有挑战性。燃烧后捕获通过捕获和压缩二氧化碳的要求增加了能量成本。目前正在评估以胺为基础的洗涤工艺在燃烧后捕获二氧化碳的效果。这是一个昂贵的过程，而且胺具有腐蚀性。其他候选技术包括物理吸附到固体吸附剂中，再加上变压或变温吸附/解吸。原则上，这可能会降低能量开销，但所需吸附剂的体积非常大，限制了敏感材料的范围。与上述工艺相比，膜基工艺具有潜在的优势。特别是，从废吸附剂或溶剂中再生和释放二氧化碳所需的热量不会造成损失，而且该技术的足迹和所需材料的数量相对较小。在这里，我们将开发先进的混合基质膜（MMMs）技术，利用有机填料，而不是无机填料，可以经济有效地适用于发电厂，以分离和捕获二氧化碳。利用沸石和mof等填料对无机-有机复合材料进行了大量的研究。然而，在聚合物基体中实现无机填料颗粒的均匀分散是具有挑战性的。大多数填料（通常是结晶无机或金属有机材料）与膜聚合物（总是无定形和有机的）之间缺乏相容性，加剧了这种情况。因此，我们建立在我们独特的有机-有机MMM报告（angnew Chem Int Ed, 2013）的基础上，其中发现了有机填料的良好分散，有机聚合物和有机填料之间有良好的附着力，两者都主要是芳香结构。我们解决这个问题，汇集了两个英国团体谁率先开发新型多孔膜（Budd）和新的微孔有机材料（亚当斯，库珀）。

The UK Government has set targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions of 80 % by 2050. Post-combustion capture of CO2 from power plants is key if we are to achieve these targets. Post-combustion CO2 capture is challenging due to the low concentration of CO2 in the waste stream and the presence of impurities (H2O, NOx, SOx, etc). Post-combustion capture adds energetic cost via the requirement to capture and compress the CO2. Amine-based scrubbing processes are being evaluated for post-combustion CO2 capture. This is a costly process, and the amines are corrosive. Other candidate technologies include physical adsorption into solid sorbents coupled with pressure-swing or temperature-swing adsorption/desorption. In principle this may lower the energy overhead, but the volume of sorbent required is extremely large, limiting the range of sensible materials. Membrane-based processes have potential advantages over the above. In particular, there are no losses due to heat required to regenerate and release CO2 from the spent sorbent or solvent, and the footprint for the technology and amount of material required is comparatively small.Here, we will develop advanced mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) technology utilising organic fillers, rather than inorganic fillers, that could be cost-effectively fitted to power plants to separate and capture CO2. There has been much research on inorganic-organic MMMs, using fillers such as zeolites and MOFs. However, it is challenging to achieve a homogeneous dispersion of the inorganic filler particles in the polymer matrix. This is exacerbated by the lack of compatibility between most fillers, which are frequently crystalline inorganic or metal-organic materials, and the membrane polymers, which are invariably amorphous and organic. We build therefore on our unique report of organic-organic MMM (Angew Chem Int Ed, 2013) , where excellent dispersion of the organic filler was found and there was good adhesion between the organic polymer and the organic filler, both of which are predominantly aromatic structures. We address this by bringing together two UK groups who have pioneered in the development of novel porous membranes (Budd) and new microporous organic materials (Adams, Cooper).