Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) lead to global warming and climate changes that affect human life and the environment. With the current carbon-capture technologies, there is very little industrial and commercial interest, even in the presence of government incentives. To mitigate the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, various strategies have been implemented such as separation, storage, and utilization of CO2. Each stage in the carbon cycle (i.e. capturing, regeneration and conversion) has its own materials requirements. Recent work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) demonstrated the potential and effectiveness of these materials in addressing the CO2 challenge. There is an increasing trend to consider carbon dioxide as a resource and a business opportunity rather than a waste product with a cost for disposal. Increasing amounts of low-cost and relatively pure CO2 are available from different industries for carbon sequestration and storage. Hence, CO2 will be a feed-stock of nearly zero (or even negative) cost for conversion to fuels and chemicals. Herein, I propose to develop novel dual functional adsorbents/catalysts (DFA/Cs) based on metal organic framework (MOF) and zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF), and use them in the separation/conversion of CO2 into value-added chemicals including but not limited to polycarbonate and poly carbamate polymers. These bio-polymers will be entitled to carbon credits. These two polymers are mainly manufactured using highly toxic phosgene (COCl2), as a key raw material. Replacing phosgene with CO2 will lead to a safer and more eco-friendly technology. The main objective of this proposal is to establish a solid fundamental research program leading to the rational design of a novel family of catalysts, based on MOFs/ZIFs, which offer the possibility of demonstrating high catalytic performance for carbon dioxide conversion to value-added chemicals such as polycarbonate polymers. The specific deliverables of this proposal include: (A) Rational design of a family of MOF/ZIF-based dual functional adsorbent/catalyst (DFA/Cs). (B) Catalytic performance of MOF/ZIF in the conversion of CO2 to polycarbonate polymers. (C) Establish fundamental structure/adsorption/catalytic relationships of MOF/ZIF-DFA/Cs  in separation and conversion of CO2 to polycarbonate polymers using a tubular membrane reactor.