During COP26, India pledged to become carbon neutral by 2070 and reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 35% compared to the 2005 levels by 2030. As the demand for energy continues to rise to unprecedented levels, it becomes critical to develop effective strategies that can mitigate the threats posed by the associated generation of CO2. A substantial proportion of such technologies remain associated with sectors like power, which can be responsible for 40% of total CO2 emissions. Carbon capture at the source and its subsequent storage and utilization have emerged as a solution to curtail the environmental impact of such sectors.​

 

While CO2 absorption using amines is the state-of-the-art for CO2 capture due to their high chemical reactivity and a reasonable degree of absorption, critical issues related to volatility, energy-intensive solvent regeneration and equipment corrosion impede their large-scale implementation. In our group, and in collaboration with Prof Ishan Bajaj (Chemical Engineering, IIT Kanpur), we seek to address these limitations by focusing on composites prepared of a distinct class of solvent, namely deep eutectic solvents (DESs). We investigate fundamental questions related to the selection and discovery of DESs, fabrication of advanced sorbents, and the design of an optimized CO2 capture process.