There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is broadly recognised as having the potential to play a key role in meeting climate change targets, delivering low carbon heat and power, decarbonising industry and, more recently, its ability to facilitate the net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. However, despite this broad consensus and its technical maturity, CCS has not yet been deployed on a scale commensurate with the ambitions articulated a decade ago. Thus, in this paper we review the current state-of-the-art of CO2 capture, transport, utilisation and storage from a multi-scale perspective, moving from the global to molecular scales. In light of the COP21 commitments to limit warming to less than 2 °C, we extend the remit of this study to include the key negative emissions technologies (NETs) of bioenergy with CCS (BECCS), and direct air capture (DAC). Cognisant of the non-technical barriers to deploying CCS, we reflect on recent experience from the UK's CCS commercialisation programme and consider the commercial and political barriers to the large-scale deployment of CCS. In all areas, we focus on identifying and clearly articulating the key research challenges that could usefully be addressed in the coming decade.

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Carbon capture and storage (CCS): the way forward

In recent years, Carbon Capture and Storage (Sequestration) (CCS) has been proposed as a potential method to allow the continued use of fossil-fuelled power stations whilst preventing emissions of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere. Gas, coal (and biomass)-fired power stations can respond to changes in demand more readily than many other sources of electricity production, hence the importance of retaining them as an option in the energy mix. Here, we review the leading CO2 capture technologies, available in the short and long term, and their technological maturity, before discussing CO2 transport and storage. Current pilot plants and demonstrations are highlighted, as is the importance of optimising the CCS system as a whole. Other topics briefly discussed include the viability of both the capture of CO2 from the air and CO2 reutilisation as climate change mitigation strategies. Finally, we discuss the economic and legal aspects of CCS.

Carbon capture and storage update

Structure and nanostructure in ionic liquids.

Ionic liquids offer a unique suite of properties that make them important candidates for a number of energy related applications. Cation–anion combinations that exhibit low volatility coupled with high electrochemical and thermal stability, as well as ionic conductivity, create the possibility of designing ideal electrolytes for batteries, super-capacitors, actuators, dye sensitised solar cells and thermo-electrochemical cells. In the field of water splitting to produce hydrogen they have been used to synthesize some of the best performing water oxidation catalysts and some members of the protic ionic liquid family co-catalyse an unusual, very high energy efficiency water oxidation process. As fuel cell electrolytes, the high proton conductivity of some of the protic ionic liquid family offers the potential of fuel cells operating in the optimum temperature region above 100 °C. Beyond electrochemical applications, the low vapour pressure of these liquids, along with their ability to offer tuneable functionality, also makes them ideal as CO2 absorbents for post-combustion CO2 capture. Similarly, the tuneable phase properties of the many members of this large family of salts are also allowing the creation of phase-change thermal energy storage materials having melting points tuned to the application. This perspective article provides an overview of these developing energy related applications of ionic liquids and offers some thoughts on the emerging challenges and opportunities.

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Energy applications of ionic liquids

Efficient selective separation of yttrium from holmium and erbium using carboxyl functionalized ionic liquids

Ionic degradation inhibitors and kinetic models for CO2 capture with aqueous monoethanolamine

Feasible ionic liquid-amine hybrid solvents for carbon dioxide capture

Asphaltenes in direct coal liquefaction residue (DCLR) are important precursors for the preparation of carbon materials. Some traditional polar hydrocarbon solvents show the ability to extract asphaltenes from DCLR, but these solvents are volatile, toxic, and difficult to recycle. Dialkylphosphate ionic liquids (ILs) have been demonstrated to have the ability to extract asphaltenes fractions from DCLR environmentally friendly. In order to understand the relationship between the extractive performance and the structure of cations and anions of ILs, a series of N,N-dialkylimidazolium dialkylphosphate ILs were synthesized and used to extract asphaltenes from DCLR. The extracts were characterized by Elemental Analysis, FT-IR, C-13-NMR, etc. The results show that it is feasible to extract asphaltenes from DCLR by N, N-dialkylimidazolium dialkylphosphate ILs. The alkyl chain length of cations and anions of the ILs is one factor that influences the extraction yield and the physicochemical characteristics of the extracted asphaltenes, such as the atomic ratio of H/C, true density, aromaticity, and so on. The alkyl chain length of ILs might be modified successfully for controlling the physicochemical characteristics of the extracts from DCLR.

Extraction of Asphaltenes from Direct Coal Liquefaction Residue by Dialkylphosphate Ionic Liquids

BACKGROUNDAqueous solutions of amine are considered to be effective absorbents for CO2 capture. Special attention is increasingly being given to developing efficient solvents with both high absorption rate and absorption loading for CO2 capture.

Haifeng Dong

Papers

Efficient selective separation of yttrium from holmium and erbium using carboxyl functionalized ionic liquids

Ionic degradation inhibitors and kinetic models for CO2 capture with aqueous monoethanolamine

Feasible ionic liquid-amine hybrid solvents for carbon dioxide capture

Extraction of Asphaltenes from Direct Coal Liquefaction Residue by Dialkylphosphate Ionic Liquids

Highly efficient carbon dioxide capture by a novel amine solvent containing multiple amino groups