UKCCSRC Call 2 Project: Process-performance indexed design of task-specific ionic liquids for post-combustion CO2 capture

Increased population and increased economic activity have one important thing in common: increased energy demand. More and more, concern is mounting surrounding the broader environmental impact associated with this, and we are forced to consider the harsh reality that societies which systematically abuse and exploit their ecosystems tend not to survive. Historically, once a population had exhausted their local ecosystem, those who could, would relocate to another area, whilst those who could not tended to die out. In our globally connected world, we do not have the option of relocation; therefore it is imperative that we find a way to redress the adverse environmental impact that has historically been associated with anthropogenic economic activity. This work proposes to address one important aspect of this challenge; how to decarbonise power generation in a costeffective and environmentally benign manner. First patented in 1932, amine-based technologies for removing CO2 from the exhaust gases of large industrial processes are a well accepted and mature option. However, their deployment on a scale commensurate with the power generation industry would entail their utilisation on a scale of an entirely different order of magnitude. This step change brings with it two important challenges; the large cost resulting from the capital and ongoing operational cost associated with the deployment of CCS and also the possibility of ancillary environmental concerns resulting from the release of amines and their associated degradation products into the wider environment. This research proposes to solve this problem by using a new class of material, ionic liquids, for solvent based CO2 capture to produce carbon negative electricity - in effect taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and ultimately reversing global warming. Ionic liquids are an exciting new class of materials which, rather than being composed of molecules, are composed of individual anions and cations which interact to define their thermophysical properties. They are almost infinitely tunable as one can in effect design a task specific ionic liquid for a particular property, e.g., to absorb CO2. However, there is an important challenge associated with this; the sheer size of the potential design space. At the time of writing, there are approximately 109 potential combinations on anion and cation - far too many for design by experiment or heuristic. Thus, this research proposes to tackle this problem by performing this material design in a computational environment using a process performance index. In other words, the development and incorporation of a new theory for designing task specific ionic liquids in dynamic non-equilibrium models of a CO2 capture process and proposing new ionic liquids based on how they affect the efficiency of the power plant to which these processes are attached. The success criteria of this project are the development of a new, environmentally benign ionic liquids based CO2 capture process which reduces the cost of capture by approximately 40% in comparison with the current benchmark technology. Vital to the success of this work is the cutting edge collaboration between experimental and theoretical research groups in the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London in addition to leading research groups in the Join BioEnergy Institute in San Francisco, USA. Important outputs of this work will be new technologies for the design of task specific ionic liquids in addition to designs operational strategies for ionic liquids based CO2 capture from large fixed point emission sources. Grant number: UKCCSRC-C2-199.

Date (Creation): 2014-09

Citation identifier: http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13606687

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
Imperial College London	Jason Hallett	not available	Point of contact
Imperial College London	Jason Hallett	not available	Principal investigator

Maintenance and update frequency: notApplicable

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

UKCCS
Carbon capture and storage
NGDC Deposited Data

dataCentre

Keywords

NERC_DDC

Access constraints: Other restrictions

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Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.

Other constraints: Either: (i) the dataset is made freely available, e.g. via the Internet, for a restricted category of use (e.g. educational use only); or (ii) the dataset has not been formally approved by BGS for access and use by external clients under licence, but its use may be permitted under alternative formal arrangements; or (iii) the dataset contains 3rd party data or information obtained by BGS under terms and conditions that must be consulted in order to determine the permitted usage of the dataset. Refer to the BGS staff member responsible for the creation of the dataset if further advice is required. He / she should be familiar with the composition of the dataset, particularly with regard to 3rd party IPR contained in it, and any resultant use restrictions. This staff member should revert to the IPR Section ( ipr@bgs.ac.uk) for advice, should the position not be clear.

Language: English

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Begin date: 2014-09 After

End date: 2016-08 Before

Reference System Information

No information provided.

Distribution format

Name	Version

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://www.bgs.ac.uk/ukccs/accessions/projects.html

Hierarchy level: Non geographic dataset

Other: non geographic dataset

Conformance result

Title: INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology

Date (Publication): 2011

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services