The Consortium brings together PQ Corporation and BASF who are global manufacturers of silicas and PEI, respectively and with the University of Nottingham will use their materials expertise to optimise the composition of silica-PEI.  The University of Ulster, CERTH and CEMEX have extensive experience in techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), the involvement of CEMEX enabling us to address in detail the application of SALT to cement plants.  The University of Bologna, CERTH and the University of Nottingham have extensive expertise in pyrolysis for recycling the silica and converting the spent PEI to potentially valuable chemicals.

The University of Nottingham has been at the forefront of developments on solid adsorbents for CO2 capture over the past decade having led both UK Research Council and EU (Research Fund for Coal & Steel) projects.  This has contributed to the university gaining widespread international recognition on solid adsorbents with >40 publications, 7 having over 100 citations as also evidenced by funding we have attracted from the Korean Institute of Energy (KIER) for scale-up of the preparation of both silica-PEI and activated carbon adsorbents.  Further, Nottingham has a pilot-scale CO2 capture facility for solid adsorbents funded through the UK Government’s Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) programme. 

PQ Corporation has collaborated with the University of Nottingham over the past decade having supplied numerous silicas, which have been successfully used in previous pilot-scale studies with silica-PEI, in conjunction with KIER (Kim et al., 2019 and 2021).

BASF invented the first process for production of PEI between 1937 and 1942 and are currently the largest global manufacturer.  BASF offers a wide range of molecular weights from 600 to 2.000.000 for PEI and, also sets the standard with no compromise on the safety of production.  Further, BASF SE and its Care Chemical Division produces more than 50,000 of PEI-alkoxylates which are available and will contribute with pilot facilities and personnel comprising R&D staff developing new species that are currently not commercially available.

The University of Ulster, CERTH and CEMEX have extensive experience in techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA).  Through CEMEX we are able to address in detail the application of SALT to cement plants. 

To recover silica from degraded adsorbent by pyrolyzing the PEI, the University of Bologna has an international reputation for fundamental pyrolysis studies and CERTH has successfully operated fluidised-bed pyrolysis rigs that will be used here to scale-up the pyrolysis of silica-PEI to recover the pyrolysis products and assess their value as chemicals.  The development of a proper gas-solids contactor is one key factor to reduce the cost of the proposed recovery process.  In that respect, the circulating fluid bed technology (FCC type) offers substantial benefits in achieving high CO2 capture efficiency and low energy penalty.  CPERI/CERTH has extensive experience in the mathematical modelling and design of FCC reactors and process optimisation, in conjunction with pilot-scale experimental data.