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必要性迫在眉睫。由于燃烧化石燃料产生的电力占世界二氧化碳排放量的40%，几乎所有严肃的绿色家庭气体减排战略都将碳捕获和储存（CCS）作为该计划的关键组成部分。迄今为止，大规模CCS尚未实现，这在很大程度上是由于利用当前技术从烟道气中分离CO2需要太多能量的事实。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）已经吸引了大量的关注，因为它们由于其破纪录的内表面积和高度可调的性质而具有代表节能CO2洗涤器的潜力。研究表明，通过选择正确的骨架单元和取代基，这些材料可以显着降低二氧化碳捕获的成本，使CCS实用化。目前，可用于制定这些材料的合理设计原则的信息是有限的，因为这些材料的合成和测试是困难的。在这方面，目前的提案解决了这些关键挑战，特别是在测试上述多孔材料的二氧化碳捕获方面。申请的资金将用于购置一台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CO2捕获，而且适用于燃烧前CO2捕获和制氢的材料，这些材料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.