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

The invention relates to novel multi-amino functionalized ionic liquid and a general preparation method thereof, and belongs to the fields of functional materials and preparation. The preparation method comprises the following steps: allowing halogenated aliphatic amine with protective groups to react with organic amine such as imidazole, pyrrole, indole, carbazole, pyrazole, 1,2,4-1-H-triazole, 1-H-tetrazole, purine, piperidine, imidazoline, piperazine, primary aliphatic amine, and secondary aliphatic amine in an aprotic solvent, performing protective group removal of the product to obtain amino functionalized liquid with anions being halogen ions, then performing an anion displacement reaction to displace the halogen anions into other anions; the amino functionalized ionic liquid obtained in the invention is insoluble in non-polar solvents, is simple in separation, and can be used repeatedly; the amino functionalized ionic liquid is applicable to the absorption and separation of acidic gas such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulfide, and the like.

Novel multi-amino functionalized ionic liquid and preparation method thereof

Investigation uncovered the impact of anions on CO2 absorption by low viscous ether functionalized pyridinium ionic liquids

Removal of Trace Aluminum Impurity for High-Purity GdCl3 Preparation using an Amine-Group-Functionalized Ionic Liquid

An ionic liquid solvent and gas purification method using the same are provided. The ionic liquid solvent consists of a main absorbent, a regulator for the main absorbent, an auxiliary absorbent, an activator, an antioxidant and water. The ionic liquid involves a low synthetic cost, low viscosity and high absorption capacity, and can be easily regenerated and recycled. The method, compared with traditional processes, has advantages such as a greater absorption capability and lower operation cost.

Ionic liquid solvent and gas purification method using the same

Developing
carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technologies
has caused worldwide interest because of the baneful influence of
CO2 on climate change as a main greenhouse gas. Ionic liquids
(ILs) are considered as potential absorbents for CO2 capture
because of their unique properties compared with current amine-based
solvents. In this work, new dianionic-functionalized IL-based solvents,
bi­(1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]­undec-7-ene) dimethylhydantoin/ethylene
glycol ([(DBUH)2]­[Dhyd]/EG), were designed and prepared
for efficient and reversible chemisorption of CO2. Among
the absorbents, [(DBUH)2]­[Dhyd]/EG with a mass ratio of
5:5 exhibited not only a high CO2 absorption capacity of
0.11 g CO2/g absorbent at 20 °C and 0.10 MPa but also
good recyclability. Spectroscopic characterizations and simulation
calculations confirmed that the superior CO2 capacity may
be attributed to the simultaneous reaction of CO2 with
both the [Dhyd]2– anion and deprotonated EG. The
excellent CO2 absorption and regeneration performance imply
that [(DBUH)2]­[Dhyd]/EG solvents may have great industrial
application potentials.

Haifeng Dong

Papers

Novel multi-amino functionalized ionic liquid and preparation method thereof

Investigation uncovered the impact of anions on CO2 absorption by low viscous ether functionalized pyridinium ionic liquids

Removal of Trace Aluminum Impurity for High-Purity GdCl3 Preparation using an Amine-Group-Functionalized Ionic Liquid

Ionic liquid solvent and gas purification method using the same

Efficient and reversible chemisorption of carbon dioxide with dianionic functionalized ionic liquid-based solvents