Novel adsorbents applied to integrated energy-efficient industrial CO2 capture

Completed

Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(CO2 Capture and Storage, CO2 capture/separation)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Chemical Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Dr MM Maroto-Valer
School of Engineering and Physical Sciences
Heriot-Watt University

Standard

EPSRC

01 July 2016

31 January 2020

43 months

£985,463

Energy

Scotland

Energy : Energy

Dr MM Maroto-Valer, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University

Dr S Garcia Lopez, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University
Professor D Reay, School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials, Newcastle University
Dr M Wang, Engineering, University of Hull
Dr G White, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University
Dr V Zivkovic, School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials, Newcastle University

Project Contact, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Project Contact, Telemark University College, Norway
Project Contact, Process Systems Enterprise Limited
Project Contact, MCM Consulting
Project Contact, China Huaneng Group
Project Contact, Osprey Corporation Limited
Project Contact, Tees Valley Unlimited

The UK Government has an ambitious target to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050. Industrial processes account for 25% of total EU CO2 emissions, and moreover, they are already operating at or close to the theoretical limits of efficiency. Therefore, CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is the only technology that can deliver the required emission reductions. However, efficiency and capital cost penalties associated with CO2 capture are hindering the deployment of CCS. There is an opportunity here for industrial CCS to operate at a wider range of temperatures and to integrate available thermal streams with heat required for on-site sorbent regeneration.This multidisciplinary proposal unites leading engineers and scientists from the Universities of Heriot-Watt, Hull and Newcastle to realise our vision of integrating novel hydrotalcite solid sorbents with advanced heat integration processes for industrial CO2 capture. Hydrotalcite materials present a big potential for industrial CCS, as they show faster kinetics and better regenerability over other high temperature sorbents; however, their application in industrial capture processes remains largely unexplored. We will research novel methodologies to enhance and tailor performance of hydrotalcites for CO2 capture over a wide range of conditions needed in industrial processes. We will also address the challenge of designing a suitable process that combines the roles of heat management (heat recovery for desorption) and mass transfer (ad- and desorption) across a range of process conditions (temperature, pressure, humidity, gas constituents) with a degree of flexibility that is economically and technically viable.

25/08/16