New methods of carbon capture using green materials

近年来，人们迫切需要采取行动，解决全球工业化几十年来累积的排放问题。很明显，需要新的燃料来使能源供应脱碳，然而，将会有一个过渡时期，在此期间化石燃料将继续使用，因此，改善目前的排放对于防止大气中二氧化碳水平的进一步增加至关重要。实现净零排放的努力符合联合国可持续发展目标，为从工艺流中去除二氧化碳而开发的技术有可能实现《巴黎协定》的目标，即将后工业时代全球气温上升限制在1.5摄氏度以内；然而，目前的技术在效率和产生有毒废物方面有局限性。因此，通过本研究寻求在从系统开发到应用的整体过程中提供环境和经济效益的解决方案。现有的去除二氧化碳的洗涤技术使用碱性胺来化学清除酸性气体，但要逆转这一过程并回收二氧化碳，需要付出很大的能量代价。除此之外，用于生态系统的化学物质的有毒释放也可能对环境造成影响。相比之下，物理捕获方法，如在无机或碳材料上吸附，可以提供更容易的再生，但由于相互作用较弱，可能会降低容量和选择性。该项目的重点是利用目前对碳材料工程的了解，结合吸附特性的表征，迭代地合成、测试和逆向工程一种可选择性吸收和储存二氧化碳的最佳碳氢化合物。碳氢化合物材料将来自不需要的生物质，为废物流的增值提供了一条途径。例如，这些将来自诸如粮食和农业废物或其他工业副产品等来源，它们可以通过转化为吸附剂而增值。选定的材料将进行水热处理，以锁定原料的多孔性，防止降解途径，创造稳定的吸附剂，可以在循环过程中重复使用，进一步增加工作的积极影响。

Recent years have seen a drive for urgent action to address the decades of accumulated emissions from the industrialisation of the globe. It is evident that there is a need for new fuels to decarbonise energy provision, however, there will be a period of transition during which fossil fuels will continue to be used, hence, amelioration of ongoing emissions is essential to prevent further increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. The drive for net zero aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and technologies developed for the removal of CO2 from process streams have potential to realise the Paris Agreement goal of limiting the post-industrial global temperature increase to 1.5 C; however current technologies have limitations in their efficiencies and in that they produce toxic wastes. Thus, a solution offering environmental and economic benefits in a holistic process from systems development to application is sought through this study.Existing scrubbing technologies for the removal of CO2 use basic amines to chemically scavenge the acidic gas, but there is a large energy penalty to reverse the process and recover the CO2. Alongside this there is also the potential environmental impact of toxic releases of the chemicals used to ecosystems. By comparison, physical methods of capture, such as adsorption on inorganic or carbon materials, can offer easier regeneration but can suffer from reduced capacities and selectivites by nature of the weaker interactions.The project focusses on using current understanding of carbon materials engineering, in conjunction with characterization of sorption properties, to iteratively synthesize, test and retro-engineer an optimal hydrochar for selective CO2 uptake and storage. The hydrochar materials will be derived from unwanted biomass, providing a route to valorisation of waste streams. For example, these will be from sources such as food and agricultural wastes, or other industrial by-products, which can be valorised by conversion into adsorbents. Selected materials will be subject to hydrothermal treatment to lock in the porous nature of the feedstock and prevent routes to degradation, creating stable sorbents that can be reused in cyclic processes, further increasing the positive impact of the work.