One of the ways strongly encouraged by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) to mitigate climate change is the capture of CO2 by liquid amines, followed by the recovery of the gas and its deep underground storage. However, an essential problem makes the process currently inefficient: the recovery of CO2 must be done by heating and is too energy intensive.

In this context, this thesis will study how the addition of nanoparticles improves the recovery of CO2 from liquid amines. These “nanofluids” have proven efficacy, but there is little guidance on how to achieve an appropriate composition, and no consensus on the mechanism that would facilitate the release of CO2 gas.

The objective of this thesis is to propose rational guidelines, which will lead to the best nanoparticle + liquid amine combination, replacing the current trial-and-error approaches. It will therefore be necessary to study how the surface of nanoparticles 1) activates the chemical reaction of release, and 2) facilitates the physical process of nucleation of gas bubbles.