Editorial pubs.acs.org/jced
ACS Virtual Issue on Carbon Capture and Sequestration
T
his virtual issue focuses on scientific and engineering advances related to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). It includes papers that have appeared in the last year and a half in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, and Journal of Physical Chemistry. Improved technology for CO2 separation and storage has become one of the major “holy grails” of the 21st Century. The world’s escalating energy needs cannot yet be satisfied by renewable sources in a more sustainable fashion. It is one of the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges (http:// www.engineeringchallenges.org/). Many of the articles focus on the development of new materials for CO2 capture, including ionic liquids, advanced amines, nonaqueous amines, deep eutectic solvents, polymers, metal organic frameworks, and other hybrid adsorbents that have been especially designed and tuned for CO2 separation from postcombustion flue gas or precombustion (e.g., gasification plus water−gas shift) gases. This is no surprise since it is estimated that more than 90% of the cost and energy for CCS for postcombustion flue gas comes from the gas separation process and compression up to pipeline pressure (National Energy Technology Laboratory, DOE/NETL-2010/ 1397, 2007, revisions 2010, 2013). A process based on conventional technology that uses an aqueous amine solution (e.g., monoethanolamine) would consume close to 30% of the energy produced by the power plant, compared to the thermodynamic minimum of about 15%, and result in an increase in the cost of electricity, which includes capital costs, of 5.8¢/kWh (National Energy Technology Laboratory, DOE/ NETL-2010/1397, 2007, revisions 2010, 2013). Having CCS technology available that requires less energy and lower costs could facilitate global progress in CO2 emission goals. Ongoing efforts directed toward new material are also being complemented by experimental and theoretical studies focused on understanding the fundamental processes responsible for CO2 capture and sequestration. Also included are advances in gas hydrates, which are being investigated for gas separation, as well as a component in flow assurance in CO2 pipelines, the design of CO2 transportation terminals, optimization of transportation and storage networks, and the fundamental chemistry and hydrodynamics of geological sequestration of CO2. With this virtual issue, we hope to highlight the many ways in which chemists, materials scientists, and chemical engineers are making a difference in meeting the grand challenge of safe, reliable, and affordable carbon capture and sequestration technologies.
Joan F. Brennecke, Editor-in-Chief,
Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data
Aaron M. Scurto, Associate Editor,
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
Peter J. Stang, Editor, Journal of the American Chemical Society
D. Howard Fairbrother, Senior Editor,
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Journal of Physical Chemistry
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
David Allen, Editor-in-Chief,
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering © 2015 American Chemical Society
Published: August 10, 2015 2187
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jced.5b00593 J. Chem. Eng. Data 2015, 60, 2187−2187
