CO2 Capture from Commercial Flue Gas Process Streams

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is key to efforts to reduce anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. The “Industrial Decarbonisation & Energy Efficiency Roadmaps to 2050” report from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills identifies CCS as critical to achieve UK carbon emission reductions of 23 million tons/annum by 2050 and is the key enabler for decarbonisation in cement (62%), chemicals (43%), iron and steel (45%) and refining (56%) sectors. However, uptake is restricted by operational challenges with state-of-art amine scrubbing technologies (energy costs, corrosion, process losses) and a mismatch between industry operational needs and how potential new solutions are evaluated in academia.

The project will address this through engineering innovative extractants for CO₂ removal from flue gas using the flexible design capabilities of ionic liquids (of which QUILL is recognised as world leading) evaluated under realistic process conditions. New chemisorbents will be designed, developed, and benchmarked to generate sorption and desorption structure-performance data that targets and addresses energy demands and absorbent losses during stripping compared to commercial scrubbers, and operation under desirable process conditions where amine scrubbers are ineffective (e.g. >100 °C)

The successful student will gain enhanced skills training in the academic environment, through the QUILL Research Centre and mentoring from Chevron (through an industrial supervisor). The student will have an industrial mentor who will encourage personal and professional development, with focus on skills relevant to the industrial sector, and will undertake a fully funded 3 month placement at Chevron, US providing training in business and commercialisation, and integration of chemistry skills into industry.

For more information please contact: Dr Leila Moura ([Email Address Removed])  

Applications must be submitted online, by the deadline, using the QUB Direct Application Portal https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/user/u_login.php