Adsorption technology by which gas streams can be purified and separated is essential for many key industries, including those in the oil and gas, chemicals, manufacturing and medical sectors. As a result, solid adsorbents are worth £2.4 billion per year, some 10% of the total industrial gas market. Furthermore, adsorption can offer green, energy-efficient routes to environmental applications, including carbon capture from power generation and other industrial sources. Typically, adsorption is achieved via pressure swing and temperature swing adsorption processes with cycle times of minutes or more. New kinetic-based adsorption technologies, using rotating valves, rotary wheel adsorbers and novel thin layer adsorbent structures can reduce the equipment footprint and increase the efficiency of these processes of gas separation so that, for example, pure gas can be generated on site rather than centrally, with the distribution costs associated with that. Zeolites, microporous aluminosilicates, make up over 30% of industrial adsorbents by value. Their well ordered and robust framework structures impart high selectivity by both molecular sieving and thermodynamics-based separation. Although over 200 zeolitic structure types are known, only a very few find widespread application as adsorbents, in part due to the economics of their synthesis. In our recent EPSRC-funded research, we have indentified two new mechanisms by which very high adsorption selectivity can be achieved. The first mechanism is via a chemoselective 'trapdoor' effect, in which cations occupying window sites only permit diffusion of molecules (such as CO2) that interact strongly with them. The second mechanism makes use of the flexibility of some structures in response to the composition of their extra-framework cations, so that their structure and cation composition can be modified to fine-tune molecular sieving via 'cation-controlled molecular sieving'. In this ambitious project we will develop gas separation by these two mechanism by zeolites not commonly used as adsorbents, including some recently reported by us as CO2 adsorbents in 'Nature'. Their potential advantages of new zeolites in kinetic-based separations (including a requirement for an order of magnitude less material) can enable much higher specific production costs to be tolerated. Consequently, the number of potential zeolite candidates for adsorption is increased. To develop these new materials and make possible this step change in adsorbent technology, we have assembled a research team comprising materials chemists, computational modellers and chemical engineers as well as industrial partners in zeolite adsorption and gas adsorption. Materials chemistry will be used to modify and optimise the chemical structure of chosen zeolite frameworks and also their texture (particle size, hierarchical porosity) for target gas separations, and the performance of these new compositions will be measured and modelled macroscopically by chemical engineers. Multiscale computational modelling (via a range of techniques of different levels of theory) will give a detailed picture of the mechanisms and so provide feedback to inform the experimental studies. This will result in greater understanding of the relationship of chemical structure and dynamics to the adsorption properties. In concert with this, ongoing discussion with industrial project partners at project meetings will enable the practical development and exploitation of a new generation of zeolite-based adsorbents for industrial and environmental applications.

The Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (HFC) SUPERGEN Hub seeks to address a number of key issues facing the hydrogen and fuel cells sector specifically: (i) to evaluate and demonstrate the role of hydrogen and fuel cell research in the UK energy landscape, and to link this to the wider landscape internationally, and (ii) to identify, study and exploit the impact of hydrogen and fuel cells in low carbon energy systems. Such systems will include the use of HFC technologies to manage intermittency with increased penetration of renewables, supporting the development of secure and affordable energy supplies for the future. Both low carbon transport (cars, buses, boat/ferries) and low carbon heating/power systems employing hydrogen and/or fuel cells have the potential to be important technologies in our future energy system, benefiting from their intrinsic high efficiency and ability to use a wide range of low to zero carbon fuel stocks. One major drive for the Hub is to contribute to technology development that will help the UK to meet its ambitious carbon emissions targets. We will also link the academic research base with industry, from companies with global reach through to SMEs and technology start-ups, to ensure effective and appropriate translation of research to support wealth and job creation for UK plc, and with local and national government to inform policy development. The Hub will champion the complete landscape in hydrogen and fuel cells research, both within the UK and internationally, via networks, knowledge exchange and stakeholder (including outreach) engagement, community building, and education, training and continuous professional development.

The research consists of three parallel activities, within three different departments at Imperial College London: Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Materials. Chemical Engineering The Chemical Engineering activity will include the validation and demonstration of a scheme for separating CO2 from oxy-combustion effluent gases, utilising a proprietary reaction/separation scheme proposed by Air Products. At present, there are insufficient data to confidently predict the performance of the scheme under industrial conditions and full process design. To this purpose a theoretical, modelling and experimental study will be carried out, involving five steps: 1) the design and commissioning of a laboratory rig suitable for characterisation of the underlying main reaction and mass exchange mechanisms involved, using a well characterised synthetic effluent gas that simulates the actual effluents (but without impurities such as mercury and arsenic); 2) the design and execution of a set of experiments with these synthetic feeds, followed by data analysis and model development; 3) the design and commissioning of a ruggedised reactor/separator rig, suitable for operation in a pilot plant environment, and its validation against the laboratory rig using the same relatively clean synthetic feeds; 4) the commissioning and running of the pilot plant reactor/separator rig at the pilot plant site, utilising the actual effluents produced by the oxy-combustion of pulverised coal; and 5) the analysis of the pilot plant data. This will enable us to: a) assess the separation achieved in practice under various conditions, in terms of purities, recoveries, efficiencies, etc., for CO2 and other main species of interest (such as NOx, SOx, mercury, chlorine); b) to produce a set of quality data suitable for modelling development and estimation of the main mechanisms and parameters involved: c) to produce a set of mathematical models that make use of those data; and d) to assess the ability of the theoretical and numerical models to represent the data obtained, their predictive capabilities over a range of operations, and their potential for use in subsequent process development and design of equipment at a much larger (industrial) scale. Mechanical Engineering The Mechanical Engineering activity will include measuring ignition behaviour of coal dust suspensions in O2/CO2 mixtures representative of oxyfuel power plant conditions using the NIOSH 20 litre ignition test vessel. Tests will be undertaken on the same six coals characterised using different techniques at Nottingham and results will be compared for cross-checking and to identify appropriate fundamental coal property test methods to support future oxyfuel developments. Staff will work closely with industrial staff at RWE to identify novel Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Operability (RAMO) issues for a range of oxyfuel plant design options and key factors likely to have significant effects on plant performance. They will identify how existing knowledge on coal utilisation science can be applied to analyse and predict RAMO issues, and will specify and undertake any additional fundamental coal characterisation tests that may be possible within the scope of the project and identify and analyse further key fundamental coal utilisation research needs to support RAMO performance prediction and improvement in new oxyfuel plants. Materials The Materials activity will acquire samples of coal, ash and deposits from oxyfuel trials on the E.ON combustion test facility and characterise the microstructures and chemical compositions of these samples, mainly by electron microscopy. This will allow the difference in behaviour of coal minerals and ash between oxyfuel and conventional pulverised coal combustion conditions to be investigated, and the impact of oxyfuel combustion on coal ash properties and boiler deposition to be predicted.

The UK Government has an ambitious target to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050. Industrial processes account for 25% of total EU CO2 emissions, and moreover, they are already operating at or close to the theoretical limits of efficiency. Therefore, CO2 capture and storage (CCS) is the only technology that can deliver the required emission reductions. However, efficiency and capital cost penalties associated with CO2 capture are hindering the deployment of CCS. There is an opportunity here for industrial CCS to operate at a wider range of temperatures and to integrate available thermal streams with heat required for on-site sorbent regeneration. This multidisciplinary proposal unites leading engineers and scientists from the Universities of Heriot-Watt, Hull and Newcastle to realise our vision of integrating novel hydrotalcite solid sorbents with advanced heat integration processes for industrial CO2 capture. Hydrotalcite materials present a big potential for industrial CCS, as they show faster kinetics and better regenerability over other high temperature sorbents; however, their application in industrial capture processes remains largely unexplored. We will research novel methodologies to enhance and tailor performance of hydrotalcites for CO2 capture over a wide range of conditions needed in industrial processes. We will also address the challenge of designing a suitable process that combines the roles of heat management (heat recovery for desorption) and mass transfer (ad- and desorption) across a range of process conditions (temperature, pressure, humidity, gas constituents) with a degree of flexibility that is economically and technically viable.

The 2008 Climate Change Act sets a legally binding target of 80% CO2 emissions reductions by 2050. This target will require nearly complete decarbonisation of large and medium scale emitters. While the power sector has the option of shifting to low carbon systems (renewables and nuclear), for industrial emissions, which will account for 45% of global emissions, the solution has to be based on developing more efficient processes and a viable carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure. The government recognises also that "there are some industrial processes which, by virtue of the chemical reactions required for production, will continue to emit CO2", ie CCS is the only option to tackle these emissions. In order for the UK industry to maintain its competitiveness and meet these stringent requirements new processes are needed which reduce the cost of carbon capture, typically more than 60% of the overall cost of CCS. Research challenge - The key challenges in carbon capture from industry lie in the wide range of conditions (temperature, pressure, composition) and scale of the processes encountered in industrial applications. For carbon capture from industrial sources the drivers and mechanisms to achieve emissions reductions will be very different from those of the power generation industry. It is important to consider that for example the food and drinks industry is striving to reduce the carbon footprint of the products we purchase due to pressures from consumers. The practical challenge and the real long term opportunity for R&D are solutions for medium to small scale sources. In developing this project we have collaborated with several industrial colleagues to identify a broad range case studies to be investigated. As an example of low CO2 concentration systems we have identified a medium sized industry: Lotte Chemicals in Redcar, manufacturer of PET products primarily for the packaging of food and drinks. The plant has gas fired generators that produce 3500 kg/hr of CO2 each at approximately 7%. The emissions from the generators are equivalent to 1/50th of a 500 MW gas fired power plant. The challenge is to intensify the efficiency of the carbon capture units by reducing cycle times and increasing the working capacity of the adsorbents. To tackle this challenge we will develop novel amine supporting porous carbons housed in a rotary wheel adsorber. To maximise the volume available for the adsorbent we will consider direct electrical heating, thus eliminating the need for heat transfer surfaces and introducing added flexibility in case steam is not available on site. As an example of high CO2 concentrations we will collaborate with Air Products. The CO2 capture process will be designed around the steam methane reformer used to generate hydrogen. The tail gas from this system contains 45% v/v CO2. The base case will be for a generator housed in a shipping container. By developing a corresponding carbon capture module this can lead to a system that can produce clean H2 from natural gas or shale gas, providing a flexible low carbon source of H2 or fuel for industrial applications. Rapid cycle adsorption based processes will be developed to drive down costs by arriving flexible systems with small footprints for a range of applications and that can lead to mass-production of modular units. We will carry out an ambitious programme of work that will address both materials and process development for carbon capture from industrial sources.