Carbon dioxide - a clean energy source

CEEM researchers have not only developed and patented a cheap and environmentally friendly way of capturing carbon dioxide emissions from coal and gas-fired power stations, but have also perfected a catalytic process that will convert this stored carbon into a chemical that is essential for provided clean energy for battery operated cars.

Made from waste biomass such as potato peelings and seaweed, CEEM’s scientists have developed novel materials called Starbons that are significantly more efficient and cost effective at capturing carbon dioxide than amine treatment.

“The use of liquid amines to capture carbon is expensive, requires large energy inputs and creates environmentally hazardous byproducts,” says Professor James Clark, who, along with his colleague Professor Michael North, has developed the porous carbon-based Starbons, which offer a cleaner, safer alternative, with high absorption levels.

Work is now underway using a blend of predictive modelling and experimentation to better understand the absorption process and to help in the design optimal properties for the Starbon. From there, the team would like to take this to a small pilot project and then to find an energy producer in the market to test the process in a power station proper.

But the researchers have gone a significant step beyond the development of a sustainable carbon capture solution. “Current thinking has tended to focus on capture and storage,” says Professor North. “What we have done is develop a catalytic process that converts carbon dioxide into a class of compounds known as cyclic carbonates.”

- Professor James Clark, Department of Chemistry

These compounds are in every day use in the lithium ion batteries that power smart technologies from mobile phones to electric cars. With the process already patented, the technology is attracting interest from manufacturers around the world. Indeed, a deal has already been struck with an Asian company that has its own carbon capture technology, but wants to use the catalytic processes to convert this to cyclic carbonate.

This approach is even being used to convert the carbon dioxide into a clean fuel. We are collaborating with a clean technology company, Carbon Capture International in Iceland, to use cheap, clean geothermal energy to electrolyse water to produce hydrogen, which is then used to reduce carbon dioxide to methanol as a commercially viable fuel additive.