Adsorption Performance Indicator to Screen Carbon Adsorbents for Post-combustion CO2 Capture. (July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Álvarez-Gutiérrez, N.; Rubiera, F.; Pevida, C.; Jin, Y.; Bae, J.; Su, S.
• Is Part Of: Energy procedia. Volume 114(2017)
• Page Start: 2362
• Page End: 2371
• Publication Date: 2017-07
• Subjects: post-combustion CO2 capture -- activated carbon -- adsorbent performance indicator; Power resources -- Congresses; Power resources -- Periodicals; Power resources; Conference proceedings; Periodicals; 333.7905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.1382
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1876-6102

Abstract

Abstract: This work is the result of the collaboration between INCAR-CSIC (Spain) and CSIRO Energy (Australia) in the framework of the European Commission FP7 project HiPerCap (High Performance Capture) that started in January 2014. The HiPerCap project aims to develop novel post-combustion CO2 capture technologies and processes which are environmentally benign and have high potential to lead to breakthroughs in energy consumption and overall cost, involving all main separation technologies for post-combustion CO2 capture. The present contribution focuses on adsorption with low temperature solid sorbents as a promising technology to capture CO2 from the flue gas. More precisely, CSIRO and CSIC have developed CO2 adsorbents from different carbon precursors including petroleum pitch, phenolic resin and agricultural by-products. The performance of new materials can be evaluated either experimentally or by means of numerical simulations, but each methodology has drawbacks. Thus, it is of utmost importance to seek a simple method for evaluating and comparing materials on the basis of readily available adsorption data. It is well known that the ideal adsorbent has a high selectivity, a high working capacity, and a low adsorption enthalpy; however, in practice, it is very rare to find a material which combines all of these attributes. Therefore, the selection of the adsorbent will often involve a trade-off among these factors, making comparisons of varied adsorbents even more difficult. In this work, the potential of the activated carbons developed by INCAR-CSIC and CSIRO for a post-combustion CO2 capture process has been evaluated and compared by means of an adsorption performance indicator.