Design of advanced $CO_2$ adsorbents for practical $CO_2$ capture process using temperature swing adsorption

Abstract

Global warming due to increased carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions is an urgent issue to resolve because it can cause serious climate change and environmental problems. Among various CO₂ capture methods, Solid CO₂ adsorbents applied to the post-combustion capture process have been widely investigated. However, the adsorbents so far have been limited in their ability by reaction with carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water vapor during the CO₂ capture process, and also, it was impossible to mass-produce the adsorbents to be applied in the actual industry. To solve this problem, this study used common materials which are easy and economical to mass production as raw material of the adsorbent. The pore structural characteristics of the silica used as the support were controlled and the physicochemical properties of amine polymers were changed through a simple reaction to dramatically improve the CO₂ capture ability. The developed adsorbent satisfied various engineering requirements such as rapid CO₂ ad/desorption characteristics, high regeneration stability, mechanical strength and mass productivity. In addition to the development of adsorbents, the energy consumption of the capture process, which varies with the characteristics of the adsorbent, was analyzed and minimized and consequently the conditions under which the CO₂ capture process can be operated economically were derived.