Encapsulation of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol with tetraethyl orthosilicate for CO2 capture

Carbon capture is widely recognised as an essential strategy to meet global goals for climate protection. Although various CO2 capture technologies including absorption, adsorption and membrane exist, they are not yet mature for post-combustion power plants mainly due to high energy penalty. Hence researchers are concentrating on developing non-aqueous solvents like ionic liquids, CO2-binding organic liquids, nanoparticle hybrid materials and microencapsulated sorbents to minimize the energy consumption for carbon capture. This research aims to develop a novel and efficient approach by encapsulating sorbents to capture CO2 in a cold environment. The conventional emulsion technique was selected for the microcapsule formulation by using 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) as the core sorbent and silicon dioxide (SiO2) as the shell. This paper reports the findings on the formulated microcapsules including key formulation parameters, microstructure, size distribution and thermal cycling stability. Furthermore, the effects of microcapsule quality and absorption temperature on the CO2 loading capacity of the microcapsules were investigated using a self-developed pressure decay method. The preliminary results have shown that the AMP microcapsules are promising to replace conventional sorbents.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Liquid marble-derived solid-liquid hybrid superparticles for CO2 capture.

The design of effective CO2 capture materials is an ongoing challenge. Here we report a concept to overcome current limitations associated with both liquid and solid CO2 capture materials by exploiting a solid-liquid hybrid superparticle (SLHSP). The fabrication of SLHSP involves assembly of hydrophobic silica nanoparticles on the liquid marble surface, and co-assembly of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles and tetraethylenepentamine within the interior of the liquid marble. The strong interfacial adsorption force and the strong interactions between amine and silica are identified to be key elements for high robustness. The developed SLHSPs exhibit excellent CO2 sorption capacity, high sorption rate, long-term stability and reduced amine loss in industrially preferred fixed bed setups. The outstanding performances are attributed to the unique structure which hierarchically organizes the liquid and solid at microscales

High-Throughput Printing via Microvascular Multinozzle Arrays

Microvascular multinozzle arrays are designed and fabricated for high-throughput printing of functional materials. Ink-flow uniformity within these multigeneration, bifurcating microchannel arrays is characterized by computer modeling and microscopic particle image velocimetry (micro-PIV) measurements. Both single and dual multinozzle printheads are produced to enable rapid printing of multilayered periodic structures over large areas (≈1 m2).Engineering and Applied Science

Encapsulated liquid sorbents for carbon dioxide capture

Drawbacks of current ​carbon dioxide capture methods include corrosivity, evaporative losses and fouling. Separating the capture solvent from infrastructure and effluent gases via microencapsulation provides possible solutions to these issues. Here we report carbon capture materials that may enable low-cost and energy-efficient capture of ​carbon dioxide from flue gas. Polymer microcapsules composed of liquid carbonate cores and highly permeable silicone shells are produced by microfluidic assembly. This motif couples the capacity and selectivity of liquid sorbents with high surface area to facilitate rapid and controlled ​carbon dioxide uptake and release over repeated cycles. While mass transport across the capsule shell is slightly lower relative to neat liquid sorbents, the surface area enhancement gained via encapsulation provides an order-of-magnitude increase in ​carbon dioxide absorption rates for a given sorbent mass. The microcapsules are stable under typical industrial operating conditions and may be used in supported packing and fluidized beds for large-scale carbon capture.Engineering and Applied Science