Adsorbent materials for carbon dioxide capture from large anthropogenic point sources

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased by 35% since the industrial revolution, contributing to global climate change.
• Reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions from large sources like power plants is crucial.
• Aqueous amine absorption is the benchmark for CO2 separation, but solid adsorbents offer a potentially less energy-intensive alternative.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the CO2 adsorption behavior of various solid adsorbents.
• To evaluate these adsorbents based on capacity, kinetics, stability, and regenerability.
• To present the scope and critical properties of CO2 adsorbents for large-scale separation.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on CO2 adsorption by solid materials.
• Evaluation of adsorbents including zeolites, activated carbons, calcium oxides, hydrotalcites, organic-inorganic hybrids, and metal-organic frameworks.
• Analysis of equilibrium CO2 capacities, adsorption-desorption kinetics, operating windows, stability, and regenerability.

Main Results:

• Various solid adsorbents exhibit different CO2 adsorption behaviors.
• Key parameters for evaluating adsorbents include equilibrium capacity, kinetics, operating window, stability, and regenerability.
• The performance of these adsorbents varies significantly across different classes.

Conclusions:

• Solid adsorbents present a promising alternative for CO2 capture, potentially offering lower energy requirements compared to amine scrubbing.
• The selection of appropriate solid adsorbents depends on a critical evaluation of their performance metrics.
• Further development and assessment are needed for the large-scale implementation of solid adsorbent-based CO2 separation technologies.