Functional Porous Materials for Gas Storage and Separations in Emerging Energy Technologies
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Porous Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 5464
Special Issue Editor
Interests: carbon and porous materials; electronic structure; x-ray spectroscopy; adsorption, separations, heterogeneous catalysts, energy storage and conversion
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4) are emerging clean fuel alternatives to petroleum derivatives and coal. Meeting the US Department of Energy goals for efficiently storing and transporting these gases is of utmost importance for commercialization of these technologies in different sectors, i.e., energy, transportation, etc. The production of each is further tied to harmful byproduct emissions. Different types of porous materials have been extensively investigated for gas storage, and for H2 and CH4 enrichment, and have been instrumental in the successful implementation of the H2- and CH4- based economy.
In recent years, CH4 has been the subject of scrutiny, as geological resources require fracking and horizontal drilling technologies, which are associated with other environmental impacts, including the contamination of water plates. There is also the need for reducing or even completely eliminating gas leaks in geological production sites. Nonetheless, CH4 could reduce CO2 emissions by 50% or more compared to coal, and this gas could power the world for over 100 years. Methane is also the most abundant component of biogas, a largely wasted resource that is directly released into the atmosphere in farming areas; of the biodegradation of algae in coastal areas; and of organic waste in landfills. Since CH4 diffuses into the atmosphere faster than CO2, it is one of the major contributors to global warming. Moreover, natural CH4 resources contain hydrocarbons, CO2, and highly corrosive H2S impurities. In the case of H2, coal gasification and water–gas shift reactions constitute the main sources of this gas. To date, porous materials for membrane separations have been widely used to enrich H2 and CH4 feeds by separating them from generated CO, CO2, and other species. Consequently, sorbents to capture and store these gases play an ever-growing role in more sustainable energy and environmental processes. This particularly applies to H2 and CH4 production, distribution, and energy conversion steps, which further require the separation and storage of CO2 from post-combustion of CH4. These are only a few examples of technological challenges in the widespread implementation of the H2 and CH4 as cleaner fuels, which can easily complement other zero emission technologies such as solar, wind, marine, and nuclear energy.
In this Special Issue on “Functional Porous Materials for Gas Storage and Separations in Emerging Energy Technologies", researchers are invited to submit their recent works on the development of stable and selective sorbents for the enrichment of H2 and CH4 fuels and for H2S, CO, CO2, and other hydrocarbon byproducts’ capture and storage. These will be examined in detail together with materials for safe, high-capacity H2 and CH4 storage for uses in the automotive, aerospace, and energy sectors, in addition to alternative technologies for the recovery of biogas.
Dr. Pasquale Fernando Fulvio
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- porous materials
- functional nanocomposites
- membranes
- hydrogen
- methane
- enrichment
- storage
- transportation
