In situ studies of materials for high temperature CO2 capture and storage

DOI: 10.1039/C6FD00047A

Authors: Matthew Dunstan (University of Cambridge) , Serena Maugeri (Queen Mary, University of London) , Wen Liu (University of Science and Technology of China) , Matthew G. Tucker (ISIS Facility) , Oluwadamilola Taiwo (University College London) , Belen Gonzalez (Nanobiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications Group (CIN2) CSIC and CIBER-BBN) , Phoebe Allan (Diamond Light Source) , Michael Gaultois (University of Cambridge) , Paul Shearing (University College London) , David Keen (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) , Anthony Phillips (University of Cambridge) , Martin Dove (University College London) , Stuart Scott (University of Cambridge) , John Dennis (University of Cambridge) , Clare Grey (University of Cambridge)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Faraday Discussions

State: Published (Approved)
Published: April 2016

Abstract: Carbon capture and storage (CCS) offers a possible solution to curb the CO2 emissions from stationary sources in the coming decades, considering the delays in shifting energy generation to carbon neutral sources such as wind, solar and biomass. The most mature technology for post-combustion capture uses a liquid sorbent, amine scrubbing. However, with the existing technology, a large amount of heat is required for the regeneration of the liquid sorbent, which introduces a substantial energy penalty. The use of alternative sorbents for CO2 capture, such as the CaO-CaCO3 system, has been investigated extensively in recent years. However there are significant problems associated with the use of CaO based sorbents, the most challenging one being the deactivation of the sorbent material. When sorbents such as natural limestone are used, the capture capacity of the solid sorbent can fall by as much as 90 mol % after the first 20 carbonation-regeneration cycles. In this study a variety of techniques were employed to understand better the cause of this deterioration from both a structural and morphological standpoint. X-ray and neutron PDF studies were employed to understand better the local surface and interfacial structures formed upon reaction, finding that after carbonation the surface roughness is decreased for CaO. In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction studies showed that carbonation with added steam leads to faster and more complete conversion of CaO than under conditions without steam, as evidenced by the phases seen at different depths within the sample. Finally, in situ X-ray tomography experiments were employed to track the morphological changes in the sorbents during carbonation, observing directly the reduction in porosity and increase in tortuosity of the pore network over multiple calcination reactions.

Diamond Keywords: Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)

Subject Areas: Chemistry, Materials, Environment


Instruments: I15-Extreme Conditions

Other Facilities: TOMCAT at Swiss Light Source

Added On: 16/04/2016 14:38

Documents:
c6fd00047a.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Earth Sciences & Environment Climate Change Physical Chemistry Chemistry Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Diffraction