Materiales

Esta sección reúne todos los materiales analizados y considerados para los procesos SolDAC.

Ethanol

Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula C2H6O. Its formula can also be written as CH3−CH2−OH or C2H5OH (an ethyl group linked to a hydroxyl group). Ethanol is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with a characteristic wine-like odor and pungent taste. It is a psychoactive recreational drug, and the active ingredient in alcoholic drinks.

Ethanol is naturally produced by the fermentation process of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration. Historically it was used as a general anesthetic, and has modern medical applications as an antiseptic, disinfectant, solvent for some medications, and antidote for methanol poisoning and ethylene glycol poisoning. It is used as a chemical solvent and in the synthesis of organic compounds, and as a fuel source.

Ethylene

Ethylene is a colorless, flammable and gaseous compound, simple unsaturated two-carbon molecule (H2C=CH2) that features a carbon–carbon double bond. Ethylene is one of the most important raw materials in the petrochemical industry. Ethylene is also a naturally occurring plant hormones, being a key regulator of plant growth and development (…), and fruit development ripening.

Metal Organic Framework (MOF)

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of compounds consisting of metal ions or clusters coordinated to organic ligands to form one-, two-, or three-dimensional structures. The organic ligands included are sometimes referred to as «struts» or «linkers», one example being 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BDC).

More formally, a metal–organic framework is a coordination network with organic ligands containing potential voids. A coordination network is a coordination compound extending, through repeating coordination entities, in one dimension, but with cross-links between two or more individual chains, loops, or spiro-links, or a coordination compound extending through repeating coordination entities in two or three dimensions; and finally a coordination polymer is a coordination compound with repeating coordination entities extending in one, two, or three dimensions. Most of the MOFs reported in the literature are crystalline compounds, but there are also amorphous MOFs, and other disordered phases.

In most cases for MOFs, the pores are stable during the elimination of the guest molecules (often solvents) and could be refilled with other compounds. Because of this property, MOFs are of interest for the storage of gases such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Other possible applications of MOFs are in gas purification, in gas separation, in water remediation, in catalysis, as conducting solids and as supercapacitors.

Nanoporous materials

Nanoporous materials consist of a regular organic or inorganic framework supporting a regular, porous structure. The size of the pores is generally 100 nm or smaller. Most nanoporous materials can be classified as bulk materials or membranes. Activated carbon and zeolites are two examples of bulk nanoporous materials, while cell membranes can be thought of as nanoporous membranes.

SimaPro

SimaPro is a software for carrying out Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) with preloaded methodologies and databases. It provides an environment to model processes with their respective inputs from nature and the technosphere, products, avoided products, emissions, and waste treatment; for their later impact assessment. This tool will allow for the development of Tasks 6.1 and 6.2, related to ecodesign recommendations and the full LCA of SolDAC, respectively.

Zeolite

Zeolites are microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts.