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

Abstract

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 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.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

carbon capture / microencapsulated sorbents / emulsion technique / low temperature adsorption and absorption

References

[1] Florin N, Fennell P. Carbon capture technology: Future fossil fuel use and mitigating climate change. Grantham Institute Climate Change Brief Paper, 2010, 3(3): 20

[2] Anderegg W R L, Prall J W, Harold J, Schneider S H. Expert credibility in climate change. Environmental Sciences, 2010, 107(27): 12107–12109

[3] Plasynski S I, Chen Z Y. Review of CO₂ capture technologies and some improvement opportunities. ACS Division of Fuel Chemistry. Preprints, 2000, 45: 644–649

[4] Zou J, Ho W S W. CO₂-selective polymeric membranes containing amines in crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol). Journal of Membrane Science, 2006, 286(1-2): 310–321

[5] Tuinier M J, Hamers H P, Van Sint Annaland M. Techno-economic evaluation of cryogenic CO₂ capture: A comparison with absorption and membrane technology. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2011, 5(6): 1559–1565

[6] Li P, Tezel F H. Equilibrium and kinetic analysis of CO₂-N₂ adsorption separation by concentration pulse chromatography. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2007, 313(1): 12–27

[7] Li M, Jiang X, He G. Application of membrane separation technology in postcombustion carbon dioxide capture process. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2014, 8(2): 233–239

[8] Desideri U. Advanced absorption processes and technology for carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture in power plants. In: Developments and Innovation in Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) Capture and Storage Technology. Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2010, 155–182

[9] Dai Z, Noble R D, Gin D L, Zhang X, Deng L. Combination of ionic liquids with membrane technology: A new approach for CO₂ separation. Journal of Membrane Science, 2016, 497: 1–20

[10] Liu G X. Greenhouse gases—capturing, utilization and reduction. InTechOpen, 2012: 1–24.

[11] Vericella J J, Baker S E, Stolaroff J K, Duoss E B, Hardin J O, Lewicki J, Glogowski E, Floyd W C, Valdez C A, Smith W L, Satcher J H, Bourcier W L, Spadaccini C M, Lewis J A, Aines R D. Encapsulated liquid sorbents for carbon dioxide capture. Nature Communications, 2015, 6(1): 6124

[12] Davidson R M. Post-combustion carbon capture—solid sorbents and membranes. Energy Procedia, 2013, 37: 134–141

[13] Peanparkdee M, Iwamoto S, Yamauchi R. Microencapsulation: A review of applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Reviews in Agricultural Science, 2016, 4(0): 56–65

[14] Stolaroff J K, Ye C, Oakdale J S, Baker S E, Smith W L, Nguyen D T, Spadaccini C M, Aines R D. Microencapsulation of advanced solvents for carbon capture. Faraday Discussions, 2016, 192(0): 271–281

[15] Jyothi Sri S, Seethadevi A, Suria Prabha K, Muthuprasanna P, Pavitra P. Microencapsulation: A review. International Journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences, 2012, 3(1): 509–531

[16] Shah R K, Shum H C, Rowat A C, Lee D, Agresti J J, Utada A S, Chu L Y, Kim J W, Fernandez-Nieves A, Martinez C J, Weitz D A. Designer emulsions using microfluidics. Materials Today, 2008, 11(4): 18–27

[17] Nielsen C J, Herrmann H, Weller C. Atmospheric chemistry and environmental impact of the use of amines in carbon capture and storage (CCS). Chemical Society Reviews, 2012, 41(19): 66–84

[18] Shimekit B, Mukhtar H. Natural gas purification technologies—major advances for CO₂ separation and future firections. In: Advances in Natural Gas Technology. InTechOpen, 2012, 235–270

[19] Harrod J F, Laine R M. Applications of organomettallic chemistry in the preparation and processing of advanced materials. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1995, 3–25

[20] Innocenzi P. The Sol to Gel Transition. Berlin: Springer, 2016, 7–25

[21] Bhakta S, Dixit C K, Bist I, Jalil K A, Suib S L, Rusling J F. Sodium hydroxide catalyzed monodispersed high surface area silica nanoparticles. Materials Research Express, 2016, 3(7): 1–14

[22] Brinker C J. Hydrolysis and condensation of silicates: Effects on structure. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 1988, 100(1-3): 31–50

[23] Wang R, Li H, Liu W, He X. Surface modification of poly(urea-formaldehyde) microcapsules and the effect on the epoxy composites performance. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2010, 47(10): 991–995

[24] Kuriokase A B, Padma S, Padma Priya S. A Review on microcapsules. Global Journal of Pharmacology, 2015, 9(1): 28–39

[25] Tarcha P J. Polymers for Controlled Drug Delivery. Florida: CRC Press, 1991: 286

[26] Lowell S, Shields J E, Thomas M A, Thommes M. Characterisation of Porous Solids and Powders: Surface Area, Pore Size and Density. Berlin: Springer, 2004, 58–81

[27] Vysloužil J, Doležel P, Kejdušová M, Mašková E, Mašek J, Lukáč R, Košťál V, Vetchý D, Dvořáčková K. Influence of different formulations and process parameters during the preparation of drug-loaded PLGA microspheres evaluated by multivariate data analysis. Acta Pharmaceutica (Zagreb, Croatia), 2014, 64(4): 403–417

[28] Tamilvanan S, Sa B. Effect of production variables on the physical characteristics of ibuprofen-loaded polystyrene microparticles. Journal of Microencapsulation, 1999, 16(4): 411–418

[29] Chan C, Maham Y, Mather A E, Mathonat C. Densities and volumetric properties of the aqueous solutions of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, n-butyldiethanolamine and n-propylethanolamine at temperature from 298.15 to 353.15 K. Fluid Phase Equilibria, 2002, 198(2): 239–250

[30] Majury T G. Amines and carboxylic acids as initiators of polymerization in caprolactam. Journal of Polymer Science. Polymer Physics Edition, 1958, 31(123): 383–397

[31] Wan Isahak W N R, Che Ramli Z A, Mohamed Hisham M W, Yarmo M A. The formation of a series of carbonates from carbon dioxide: Capturing and utilisation. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2015, 47: 93–106

[32] Nair P S, Selvi P P. Absorption of carbon dioxide in packed column. International Journal of Science Research Publication, 2014, 4(1): 2250–3153

[33] Vericella J J, Baker S E, Stolaroff J K, Duoss E B, Hardin J O, Lewicki J, Glogowski E, Floyd W C, Valdez C A, Smith W L, . Encapsulated liquid sorbents for carbon dioxide capture. Nature Communications, 2015, 6(1): 6124

[34] Aines R D, Spaddaccini C M, Duoss E B, Stolaroff J K, Vericella J, Lewis J A, Farthing G. Encapsulated solvents for carbon dioxide capture. Energy Procedia, 2013, 37: 219–224

[35] Stephens J C, Van Der Zwaan B, Kennedy J F. CO₂ capture and storage (CCS): Exploring the research, development, demonstration, and deployment continuum. Energy Technology Innovation Project. Harvard University, 2005, 3–20

[36] Fredriksen S B, Jens K J. Oxidative degradation of aqueous amine solutions of MEA, AMP, MDEA, Pz: A review. Energy Procedia, 2013, 37: 1770–1777

[37] Nicholas B P, Lu Y. CO₂ absorption into concentraed carbonate solutions with promoters at elevated temperatures. Dissertation for the Master’s Degree. Illinois: University of Illinois, 2014: 3–10

[38] Haslam T B R, Hershey R L, Keen R H. Industrial and engineering chemistry. Effect of gas velocity and temperature on rate of absorption. UTC, 2018, 18: 41

[39] Wang T, Jens K J. Oxidative degradation of AMP/MEA blends for post-combustion CO₂ capture. Energy Procedia, 2013, 37: 306–313

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRS) of the United Kingdom under the grants EP/N000714/1 and EP/N021142. We would also like to thank our colleagues at the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage (BCES) for their expertise and insight that assisted the research.

Open Access

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2019 The Author(s) 2019. This article is published with open access at link.springer.com and journal.hep.com.cn