Ionic liquids and biomass as carbon precursors: Synergistically answering a call for CO2 capture and conversion

• Published in: Fuel (Guildford) 2022-11, Vol.327, p.125164, Article 125164
• Main Authors: Stanton Ribeiro, Mónica, Zanatta, Marcileia, Corvo, Marta C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbonization methodologies; CO2 adsorption; CO2 valorization; Ionic liquids; Ionothermal carbonization; N-doped porous carbons
• ISSN: 0016-2361; 1873-7153
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2022.125164

[Display omitted] •Ionic liquids and biomass are promising carbon precursors to N-doped porous carbons.•Carbon porosity can be enhanced by chemical or physical activation, and through templating.•Higher yields and controlled microporosity obtained by HTC and ITC with ILs.•Biomass-based carbon adsorbents can capture up to 21.1 mmol CO2/g.•Porous carbons can achieve excellent CO2 conversions at moderate pressures. The alarming rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has been met with urgent calls to the scientific community and global enterprises. As a solution, CO2 capture and conversion could remove, store, and properly convert some of the gas into useful substances. The present review highlights the use of ionic liquids (ILs) and biomass for the preparation of nitrogen-doped (N-doped) porous carbons that can serve as CO2 adsorbents and catalysts for conversion reactions of the same gas. The physical and chemical properties of ILs (tunability, stability, controllability) as well as the economic viability of biomass (inexpensiveness, availability, renewability, and environmental friendliness) have piqued the interest of researchers in this field of study. This review also provides the different carbonization methodologies in detail, and the effects of biomass origin, carbonization methodology and processing parameters on the final properties of the porous carbons are summarized. Strong efforts have been applied to the use of biomass and/or IL-based carbons in CO2 capture showing promising results for this application, while the development of carbon catalysts with biomass and /or ILs is still in its infancy, although promising results can already be seen in the literature.