3D printing of catalytic reactors for CO2 transformation

CO2 is the most abundant renewable carbon source in nature and considerate the major greenhouse gas. The development of carbon neutral processes is an important topic against climate change. Despite the large number of recent reports related to CO2 capture and conversion strategies, a viable solution with potential industrial applicability is lacking due to the harsh conditions or low productivities. The combination of active catalyst, adequate reactor design and flow chemistry, offers great potential to overcome these limitations. Ionic liquids (ILs) and analogous polymeric materials, called PILs have recently emerged as promising materials to capture and activate CO2 at low pressure and temperature. PILs combine the unique properties of ILs with macromolecular characteristics. The presence of CO2-philic functionalities on the surface of adsorbents (e.g. amines), the surface properties (porosity, surface area) and the hierarchical structure of the material are key parameters. However, despite all the progress in PIL-based CO2 separation membranes, the control across scales of the properties of the materials is extremely challenging. Evidence of that is the lack of publications employing different PIL architectures and low cost PIL production methodologies in large scale. The preparation of copolymerized PIL with optimised membrane properties employing additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing (3DP), to control the shape and functionality can address these limitations, by simultaneously combining adsorption, transport, activation and conversion of CO2 in integrated devices. Thus, 3D printing (3DP) techniques appears as a versatile method to fabricate catalytic flow devices with scaling up potential. In this context, the main goal of this Thesis is to develop 3D-printed reactors based on poly(ionic liquid) materials for CO2 capture and conversion (CCU). To achieve the objective, is important to evaluate the following topics: •??To optimise the formulation of the PILs to be photopolymerised by 3DP. •??To create a protocol to additively manufacturing structured devices with optimised geometries employing the novel PILs.