CENTA funded – A sustainable approach to carbon capture technology

Project highlights

• Sustainable preparation of chemical reagents using non-toxic and earth abundant materials with solvent-free methodologies
• Carbon capture technology application
• Study of reaction mechanism of CO2 conversion

Overview

The UK government has set out an ambitious roadmap to implement carbon capture technology, setting up a plan for a competitive ‘Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage’ (CCUS) market by 2035.1 These technologies will aim to reduce highly detrimental levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, in line with the ambition to reach Net Zero by 2050.2 Examples of current approaches towards CCUS include: direct air capture, chemical absorption and gas separation.3 Crucially, CO2 could be converted into more benign forms (e.g. solid forms like carbonates and oxalates salts) or could be used as an important feedstock of ‘clean’ CO (usually obtained from the combustion of methane, i.e. steam reforming) and employed in the Fischer-Tropsch process for the preparation of synthetic fuels.  

CO2 is already intensely researched as a useful precursor for chemical synthesis. Nonetheless, materials involved in these reactions are often toxic metals and solvents, thus posing some serious challenges to the long-term sustainability CCUS technology. To address these issues we must: 1) employ earth-abundant, non-toxic reagents; 2) reduce energy costs; 3) limit the carbon footprint of CCUS strategies.  

We will prepare earth-abundant reagents using solvent-free methodologies, and will study their reactivity towards CO2 activation. These reagents will incorporate alkaline earth metals, which belong to the Group 2 of the Periodic Table. These are cheap (e.g. magnesium £2/kg, calcium £2/kg), earth-abundant and non-toxic metals, thus providing a sustainable alternative to toxic reagents. Additionally, our methodologies will not involve hydrocarbon solvents, as we rely on mechanical forces to promote chemical reactions (i.e. mechanochemistry). This method is based on a recent discovery from our team, where we have reported the mechanochemical synthesis of a novel calcium-containing material capable of promoting important reactions for the chemical industry (e.g. C-H activation, cross-coupling) under mild conditions and with a low carbon footprint. 4 These new reagents will be employed in reactivity studies with CO2, and we will also investigate the combination of CO2 with hydrogen to reproduce strategic reactions for the chemical industry and fine chemical production, e.g. 

Fischer-Tropsch process. We will also investigate mechanistic aspects of these reactions to improve our molecular design and applications.

Methodology

The workplan for this PhD project will be organised as follows: 

1. Mechanochemical synthesis of alkaline earth reagents. Alkaline earth reagents will be prepared using solvent-free mechanochemical methods supported by state-of-the-art anaerobic techniques (Schlenk line and glovebox), which are also going to be used for CO2 capture reactions.
2. Physical characterisation. New materials will be characterised with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, single crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, Infrared spectroscopy, Mass Spectrometry and electrochemistry. Physical characterisation will inform the methodology development and the further CO2 capture reactions.
3. CO2 capture reactions. These reactions will target transformation of CO2 into solid carbonate or oxalate salts, or conversion to formate in the presence of hydrogen.
4. Mechanistic investigations. The reaction will be monitored using reaction monitoring techniques such as the ones described in point 2). Mechanistic investigation results will inform the methodology development and CO2 capture reactions in a two-way feedback loop.

Enquiries to Fabrizio Ortu – fabrizio.ortu@leicester.ac.uk

To apply see our website https://le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/funded-opportunities/centa-phd-studentships

Study start September 2025