Enabling integrated CO2 capture and conversion by dual function materials

Albeit a variety of available strategies for CO2 conversion to useful chemicals and fuels, most technologies require relatively pure CO2, especially without oxygen and water. This requires additional steps of CO2 capture and purification before its efficient conversion. This necessity increases energy requirement, leading to poorer carbon footprints and higher capital expenditures lowering the viability of overall CO2 conversion processes. In this light, combining CO2 capture and reduction processes is an important step towards practical and greener CCU. In this contribution, I present our recent efforts to develop the integrated CO2 capture and conversion process to produce syngas (CO+H2) and methane. For the synthesis of syngas, diluted CO2 streams common in process flue gases (e.g. 5-13 vol%), even containing oxygen and water, can be fed to the process and relatively pure product stream can be produced. By means of reactor integration, continuous CO2 abatement and conversion based on a two-reactors system or chemical looping approach is also feasible. I illustrate the powerful use of space- and time-resolved operando methodologies to understand what, when, where and how the dynamic process is taking place in the catalytic reactor to gain critical insights towards rational design of the dual function materials and the integrated process.

Speakers

Atsushi Urakawa

Professor at Delft University of Technology