Nanotubes for Carbon Capture

化石燃料燃烧产生的碳排放和土地利用的变化正在迫使大气中二氧化碳水平迅速增加，从而导致温室气体（GHG）效应的增强，从而导致气候变化，这是一个被广泛接受的事实。英国设定了到2050年将二氧化碳净排放量减少80%的目标（与1990年的基线相比）。为了实现这一目标，必须采取多种措施。开发一种简单的空气捕捉技术，从大气中去除二氧化碳，将大大有助于实现这些目标，并为加速纠正和可能扭转大气中二氧化碳浓度的趋势提供一种选择。人们正在努力从化石燃料厂捕获二氧化碳，然而，50%的排放来自小型分布源和运输。如果有可能为当地热电联产厂或家庭使用开发一种小型低维护设备，就可以取得相当大的进展。开发这种技术的主要挑战之一在于选择和开发一种材料，这种材料既能有效地吸收，又能容易地以低能源成本解吸和浓缩捕获的二氧化碳，以便进一步大规模储存或用于目前正在开发的化学合成方法。该提案包括许多跨学科和推测性的研究活动，这些活动共同关注于确定基于化学功能化碳纳米管（CNT）的吸附特性开发小规模碳捕获系统（CCS）的可行性。碳纳米管（CNT）是纯碳的圆柱体，直径约为纳米，长度从100纳米到毫米不等。它们既可以是单壁碳纳米管，圆柱体的壁厚为1原子，也可以是多壁碳纳米管，其中许多圆柱体彼此嵌套在一起。散装材料非常轻，多孔性强，由于其高表面积，非常适合气体储存应用。碳纳米管还具有高导热性和导电性，并表现出丰富的化学成分。这些特性都使它们成为非常有前途的高效、选择性吸附和解吸二氧化碳的材料。近年来，碳纳米管在世界范围内的产量急剧增加，价格迅速下降，使碳纳米管的大规模批量应用成为可能。本可行性报告将处理的活动包括具有高选择性和CO2吸附亲和力的新型碳纳米管材料的合成和表征（包括毒理学研究），以及开发选择性气体传感器的潜力。考虑公众谘询的广泛反馈和生命周期分析，以确定发展该系统在经济和环境方面的可行性，为小型碳捕集系统建模和设计。每项活动本身都有可能产生突破性的发展和高影响的结果，而综合活动的结果将为在后期阶段推进这些想法以开发碳捕获系统原型提供坚实的基础。

It is now a widely accepted fact that carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion and change in land use are forcing a rapid increase in atmospheric CO2 levels, with consequent enhancement of the greenhouse gas (GHG) effect leading to climate change. The UK has set a target of reducing the net CO2 emission by 80% by 2050 (compared to a 1990 baseline). In order to achieve this target, multiple measures must be implemented. The development of a simple air capture technology to remove CO2 from the atmosphere would go far to achieving these goals and provide an option for accelerating the correction and possibly reversing the trend in atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Much effort is being expended on capturing CO2 from fossil fuel plants, however, 50% of the emission comes from small distributed sources and transport. Considerable progress could be made if it was possible to develop a small-scale low maintenance device for local CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plants or domestic use. One of the major challenges in developing such a technology lies in the choice and development of a material that can efficiently absorb but also easily and with low energy cost desorb and concentrate the captured CO2 for further large scale storage or use in chemical synthesis approaches that are currently being developed. This proposal consists of a number of interdisciplinary and speculative research activities that collectively are focused on the goal of determining the feasibility of developing a small scale carbon capture system (CCS) based on the adsorption properties of chemically functionalised carbon nanotubes (CNT).Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are cylinders of pure carbon with diameters on the order of some nm and lengths that can range from 100nm to mm. They exist both as single-walled CNT where the wall of the cylinder is 1 atom thick and as multi-walled nanotubes where a number of cylinders are nested inside each other. The bulk material is extremely lightweight and highly porous and due to its high surface area is very suitable for gas storage applications. CNT also possess a high thermal and electrical conductivity and exhibit a rich chemistry. These properties all make them very promising materials for efficiently and selectively adsorbing and desorbing CO2. The worldwide production of CNT has increased dramatically in the past couple of years and the price is falling rapidly, making the large scale application of bulk quantities of CNT feasible. The activities to be addressed within this Feasibility Account include the synthesis and characterisation (including toxicological studies) of new CNT material with a high selectivity and affinity for CO2 adsorption as well as potential for the development of selective gas sensors, the modelling and design of a small scale CCS taking into account extensive feedback from public consultation and a life cycle analysis to determine the economic and environmental feasibility of the development of such a system. Each activity in itself has the potential to produce ground-breaking developments and high impact results while the results of the combined suite of activities will provide a firm foundation for taking these ideas forward at a later stage to develop a prototype carbon capture system.