High-Pressure Gas Adsorption Analyzer For Clean Energy Technology

气候变化可以说是我们这一代人面临的最大挑战，减少二氧化碳排放的需求迫在眉睫。由于燃烧化石燃料发电占世界二氧化碳排放量的40%，几乎所有严肃的温室气体减排战略都将碳捕获和储存（CCS）作为计划的关键组成部分。迄今为止，大规模的CCS尚未实现，这在很大程度上是由于使用现有技术从烟气中分离二氧化碳需要太多的能源。实施这些技术将导致电力成本增加60-80%。为了解决这些问题，纳米多孔金属有机框架（MOF）和共价有机框架（COF）引起了人们的极大关注，因为它们具有破纪录的内表面积和高度可调的性质，有可能成为节能的二氧化碳洗涤器。研究表明，通过选择合适的框架单元和取代基，这些材料可以显著降低二氧化碳捕获的成本，使CCS成为现实。目前，由于这些材料的合成和测试工作繁重，可用于制定合理设计原则的信息有限。在这方面，目前的提案解决了这些关键挑战，特别是关于测试二氧化碳捕获上述多孔材料。所要求的资金将用于购买高压气体吸附分析仪，该分析仪将提供必要的测量能力，这在加拿大将是独一无二的。此外，该设备将使研究人员能够研究不仅适用于燃烧后二氧化碳捕获，而且适用于燃烧前二氧化碳捕获和制氢的材料，这有望成为未来清洁发电和储存的关键技术。

Climate change is arguably the greatest challenge of our generation, and the need to mitigate CO2 emissions is urgent. Since electricity generation from burning fossil fuels accounts for 40% of the world's CO2 emissions, almost all serious green house gas mitigation strategies include carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a key component of the plan. To date, large scale CCS has yet to be realized, in large part due to the fact that separating CO2 from the flue gas with current technologies requires too much energy. Implementing such technologies would consequently lead to a 60-80% increase in the cost of electricity. To address these issues, nanoporous metal-organic frameworks (MOF) and covalent organic frameworks (COF) have attracted a great deal of attention, as they have the potential to represent energy efficient CO2 scrubbers as a result of their record breaking internal surface areas and their highly tunable nature. Studies have suggested that by choosing the right framework units and substituents, these materials could significantly reduce the cost of CO2 capture making CCS practical. Presently, the information available to formulate rational design principles for these materials is limited due to the arduous synthesis and testing of these materials. In that regard, the current proposal tackles these key challenges, specifically with respect to the testing of CO2 capture by the aforementioned porous materials. The requested funding will be used to acquire a high pressure gas adsorption analyzer that will provide the necessary measurement capabilities, which will be unique in Canada. Moreover, the equipment will enable the researchers to examine materials suitable not only for post-combustion CO2 capture, but also pre-combustion CO2 capture and hydrogen generation, which are expected to be a key technologies for future clean power generation and storage.