Simulation of CO2/CH4 high pressure separation on microporous activated carbon

Abstract

Pure component adsorption equilibrium of CH₄ and CO₂ on activated carbon have been studied at three different temperatures, 298, 323, and 348?K within a pressure range of 10–2000?kPa. Binary adsorption equilibrium isotherm was described using extended Sips equation and ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) model. Experimental breakthrough curves of CO₂/CH₄ (40:60 in a molar basis) were performed at four different pressures (300, 600, 1200, and 1800?kPa). The experimental results of binary isotherms and breakthrough curves have been compared to the predicted simulation data in order to evaluate the best isotherm model for this scenario. The IAST and Sips models described significantly different results for each adsorbed component when higher pressures are set. These different results cause a significant discrepancy in the estimation of the equilibrium selectivity. Simulated and experimental equilibrium selectivity data provided by IAST presented values of around 4, for CO₂/CH₄, and extended Sips presented values of around 2. Also, simulated breakthrough curves showed that IAST fits better to the experimental data at higher pressures. According to the simulations, in a binary mixture at total pressure over 800?kPa, extended Sips model underestimated significantly the CO₂ adsorbed amount and overestimated the CH₄ adsorbed amount.     

Adsorption of CO2 from dry gases on MCM-41 silica at ambient temperature and high pressure. 2: Adsorption of CO2/N2, CO2/CH4 and CO2/H2 binary mixtures

Adsorption equilibrium capacity of CO₂, CH₄, N₂, H₂ and O₂ on periodic mesoporous MCM-41 silica was measured gravimetrically at room temperature and pressure up to 25 bar. The ideal adsorption solution theory (IAST) was validated and used for the prediction of CO₂/N₂, CO₂/CH₄, CO₂/H₂ binary mixture adsorption equilibria on MCM-41 using single components adsorption data. In all cases, MCM-41 showed preferential CO₂ adsorption in comparison to the other gases, in agreement with CO₂/N₂, CO₂/CH₄, CO₂/H₂ selectivity determined using IAST. In comparison to well known benchmark CO₂ adsorbents like activated carbons, zeolites and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), MCM-41 showed good CO₂ separation performances from CO₂/N₂, CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/H₂ binary mixtures at high pressure, via pressure swing adsorption by utilizing a medium pressure desorption process (PSA-H/M). The working CO₂ capacity of MCM-41 in the aforementioned binary mixtures using PSA-H/M is generally higher than 13X zeolite and comparable to different activated carbons.     

Chelation of transition metals into MOFs as a promising method for enhancing CO2 capture: A computational study

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are one kind of promising porous materials for CO₂ capture and separation. In this work, the chelation of the first-row transition metals (from Sc to Zn) into MOFs was proposed to enhance its CO₂ adsorption capacity. The adsorption mechanisms and adsorption capacities of CO₂ in the chelated MOFs were explored by using quantum mechanical calculation and QM-based grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. The results show that the chelation of transition metals can significantly improve the adsorption capacity of CO₂ in MOFs, especially at low pressure. Among the first row transition metals, the chelation of Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) gives higher binding energies than other transition metals. The chelation of Mn(II) into MOFs shows the highest uptake amount at low pressure. The CO₂ uptake amounts in UiO(bpydc)-MnCl₂ and BPV-MOF-MnCl₂ are about six times higher than the original counterparts at 298 K and 100 kPa. Based on this significant enhancement, the chelation of transition metals in MOFs provides an efficient approach for enhancing CO₂ capture.     

Adsorption and separation of CH4/CO2/N2/H2/CO mixtures in hexagonally ordered carbon nanopipes CMK-5

Adsorption and separation of N₂, CH₄, CO₂, H₂ and CO mixtures in CMK-5 material at room temperature have been extensively investigated by a hybrid method of grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation and adsorption theory. The GCMC simulations show that the excess uptakes of pure CH₄ and CO₂ at 6.0 MPa and 298 K can reach 13.18 and 37.56 mmol/g, respectively. The dual-site Langmuir–Freundlich (DSLF) model was also utilized to fit the absolute adsorption isotherms of pure gases from molecular simulations. By using the fitted DSLF model parameters and ideal adsorption solution theory (IAST), we further predicted the adsorption separation of N₂–CH₄, CH₄–CO₂, N₂–CO₂, H₂–CO, H₂–CH₄ and H₂–CO₂ binary mixtures. The effect of the bulk gas composition on the selectivity of these gases is also studied. To improve the storage and separation performance, we finally tailor the structural parameters of CMK-5 material by using the hybrid method. It is found that the uptakes of pure gases, especially for CO_2, can be enhanced with the increase of pore diameter D_i, while the separation efficiency is apparently favored in the CMK-5 material with a smaller D_i. The selectivity at D_i=3.0 nm and 6.0 MPa gives the greatest value of 8.91, 7.28 and 27.52 for S_CO2/N2, S_CH4/H2 and S_CO2/H2, respectively. Our study shows that CMK-5 material is not only a promising candidate for gas storage, but also suitable for gas separation.     

Experimental and theoretical study of the adsorption of pure molecules and binary systems containing methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Application to the syngas generation

This study takes place in the context of the use of a Synthesis Gas in Gas To Liquid process, liquid hydrocarbon production by conversion based on Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. Our aim is the process improvement by a selective recycling of the tail gas. So, we measure pure component isotherms for four gases (CO₂, CH₄, CO, N₂) of the tail gas until 2000 kPa and binary mixture (CO₂–CH₄; CO₂–N₂; CH₄–N₂) equilibria at 303.15 K and 400 and 950 kPa onto a ZSM-5 zeolite. We also predict the binary mixture equilibria by the Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) and the Vacancy Solution Model (VSM, Flory–Huggins and Wilson forms) and we obtain very good results. So not only binary mixture equilibria but also ternary and quaternary mixture adsorption can be predicted. With these data (experimental and simulated), we can conclude that the CO₂ is the most adsorbed component while N₂ is the least one. These two components can be separated from CH₄ and CO which are sent in the Synthesis Gas production step.     

Molecular simulation,experiments and modelling of single adsorption capacity of 4A molecular sieve for CO2–CH4 separation

Monte Carlo simulation of CO₂ and CH₄ adsorption on zeolite 4A is carried out in grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation. LTA framework was used to reproduce the structure of zeolite 4A. A comparison between the structure and properties of this zeolite and 13X, ZSM-5, 4A and 3A is performed and the results are included in the article. Universal force field was used for calculation of intermolecular forces. Our own experiments were also carried out to reinvestigate the simulation results. Ewald summation method was used for calculating electrostatic forces and atom based method was applied for van der Waals forces. The simulation results show good agreement with experimental results. Highest CO₂ adsorption capacity of zeolite 4A was in good agreement with experiments at the same pressure ranges, and was found to be 3.17 mol/kg from GCMC. Isosteric heat of adsorption was calculated to find the heat released during adsorption of each gas. Finally simulation results were fitted to four isotherms to find the best fit.     

Electrochemical synthesis,characterization and application of a microstructure Cu<Subscript>3</Subscript>(BTC)<Subscript>2</Subscript> metal organic framework for CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> and CH<Subscript>4</Subscript> separation

The electrochemical route is a promising and environmentally friendly technique for fabrication of metal organic frameworks (MOFs) due to mild synthesis condition, short time for crystal growth and ease of scale up. A microstructure Cu₃(BTC)₂ MOF was synthesized through electrochemical path and successfully employed for CO₂ and CH₄ adsorption. Characterization and structural investigation of the MOF was carried out by XRD, FE-SEM, TGA, FTIR and BET analyses. The highest amount of carbon dioxide and methane sorption was 26.89 and 6.63 wt%, respectively, at 298 K. The heat of adsorption for CO₂ decreased monotonically, while an opposite trend was observed for CH₄. The results also revealed that the selectivity of the developed MOF towards CO₂ over CH₄ enhanced with increase of pressure and composition of carbon dioxide component as predicted by the ideal adsorption solution theory (IAST). The regeneration of as-synthesized MOF was also studied in six consecutive cycles and no considerable reduction in CO₂ adsorption capacity was observed.     

Extra-framework charge and impurities effect,Grand Canonical Monte Carlo and volumetric measurements of CO2/CH4/N2 uptake on NaX molecular sieve

In this work, Monte Carlo simulation of CO₂, N₂, and CH₄ adsorption on zeolite 13X is carried out in grand canonical ensemble. FAU framework was used to reproduce the structure of zeolite 13X. Universal force field was used to calculate the interactions between adsorbates and 13X. Metropolis method was used for calculating adsorption isotherm. Volumetric measurements were carried out to confirm the simulation results. The simulation results using Universal force field showed good agreement with experimental results. Highest CO₂ uptake for this zeolite was found as 5.67 mol/kg from GCMC. Isosteric heat of adsorption was investigated to find the heat released during adsorption of each gas. The simulation result of isosteric heat of adsorption for CO₂, N₂, and CH₄ was utmost 17.00, 4.37, and 6.14 kcal/mole, respectively. Radial distribution graphs were used to find affinity of constituents of zeolite for CO₂. Henry’s constant evaluation was also performed at low pressure to find the selectivity of the structure. Henry’s constant of CO₂ in an equimolar mixture of N₂ and CH₄ was calculated 3.49 and 1.49 mol/kg.kPa, respectively. Finally, simulation results were fitted to Toth and dual-site Langmuir isotherms to find the best fit that belongs to dual-site Langmuir.     

Adsorption of CO2, CH4, CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 in novel activated carbon beads: Preparation,measurements and simulation

A series of high performance carbonaceous mesoporous materials: activated carbon beads (ACBs), have been prepared in this work. Among the samples, ACB‐5 possesses the BET specific surface area of 3537 m² g^?1 and ACB‐2 has the pore volume of 3.18 cm³ g^?1. Experimental measurements were carried out on the intelligent gravimetric analyzer (IGA‐003, Hiden). Carbon dioxide adsorption capacity of 909 mg g^?1 has been achieved in ACB‐5 at 298 K and 18 bar, which is superior to the existing carbonaceous porous materials and comparable to metal‐organic framework (MOF)‐177 (1232 mg g^?1, at 298 K and 20 bar) and covalent‐organic framework (COF)‐102 (1050 mg g^?1 at 298 K and 20 bar) reported in the literature. Moreover, methane uptake reaches 15.23 wt % in ACB‐5 at 298 K and 18 bar, which is better than MOF‐5. To predict the performances of the samples ACB‐2 and ACB‐5 at high pressures, modeling of the samples and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation have been conducted, as is presented in our previous work. The adsorption isotherms of CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄ in our samples ACB‐2 and 5 have been measured at 298 and 348 K and different compositions, corresponding to the pre‐ and postcombustion conditions for CO₂ capture. The Dual‐Site Langmuir‐Freundlich (DSLF) model‐based ideal‐adsorbed solution theory (IAST) was also used to solve the selectivity of CO₂ over N₂ and CH₄. The selectivities of ACBs for CO₂/CH₄ are in the range of 2–2.5, while they remain in the range of 6.0–8.0 for CO₂/N₂ at T = 298 K. In summary, this work presents a new type of adsorbent‐ACBs, which are not only good candidates for CO₂ and CH₄ storage but also for the capture of carbon dioxide in pre‐ and postcombustion processes. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011     

机器学习高效筛选用于CO2/N2选择性吸附分离的沸石材料

目前，针对气体吸附性能的测定及材料设计筛选，传统的实验法耗时耗力，因此分子力学方法中的巨正则蒙特卡洛(GCMC)方法已被广泛应用于该领域中，但日益增长的材料数目使得GCMC方法的计算量越来越高。为解决这一问题，本文提出了一种基于机器学习(ML)方法的吸附材料的筛选框架，包含ML模型的建立、理想化PSA工艺模型筛选材料及GCMC方法的验证三个阶段。首先，建立人工神经网络模型，提出了沸石材料的结构描述符“天然构造单元(NBU)”对特定条件下的气体吸附量进行预测。对于CO₂和N₂气体，分别构建了两个拓扑结构不同的多层前馈神经网络。其次，通过理想吸附溶液理论(IAST)将纯组分的吸附等温线转化为摩尔分数为0.14/0.86的CO₂/N₂二元混合物吸附等温线，并根据一系列吸附材料评估指标筛选出11种最佳沸石材料，并从中选出4种沸石(MON、ABW、NAB和VSV)计算其GCMC的吸附数据。结果表明，它们对N₂的吸附能力远低于CO₂，因此对两种气体的吸附选择性较高，能...     

Equilibrium Adsorption Studies of CO2, CH4, and N2 on Amine Functionalized Polystyrene

Adsorption of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂ has been investigated using amine functionalized polymeric resins having diethanolamine, imidazole, dimethylamine, and N-methyl piperazine covalently attached to the styrene-divinyl benzene copolymer (PS) matrix. The equilibrium adsorption of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂ was examined on these functionalized polymers at pressures from atmospheric to 40 atm for CO₂ and N₂ while up to 10 atm for CH₄ at 303 K. PS-Imidazole showed the highest adsorption capacity for CO₂ as compared to other functionalized polymers. No significant uptake of CH₄ and N₂ was observed at low pressures by any of the functionalized polymers. The adsorption isotherms were analyzed using dual mode sorption model and Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST).     

Computational screening of porous metal‐organic frameworks and zeolites for the removal of SO2 and NOx from flue gases

Sulfur oxides (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x) are principal pollutants in the atmosphere due to their harmful impact on human health and environment. We use molecular simulations to study different adsorbents to remove SO₂ and NO_x from flue gases. Twelve representative porous materials were selected as possible candidates, including metal‐organic frameworks, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, and all‐silica zeolites. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations were performed to predict the (mixture) adsorption isotherms to evaluate these selected materials. Both Cu‐BTC and MIL‐47 were identified to perform best for the removal of SO₂ from the flue gases mixture. For the removal of NO_x, Cu‐BTC was shown to be the best adsorbent. Additionally, concerning the simultaneous removal of SO₂, NO_x, and CO₂, Mg‐MOF‐74 gave the best performance. The results and insights obtained may be helpful to the adsorbents selection in the separation of SO₂ and NO_x and carbon capture. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 2314–2323, 2014     

Adsorptive cyclic purification process for CO2 mixtures captured from coal power plants

CO₂ capture technology combined with bulk separation and purification processes has become an attractive alternative to reduce capture costs. Furthermore, the required purity in the application for CO₂ conversion and utilization is more stringent than that required from a captured CO₂ mixture for geological storage. In this study, an adsorptive cyclic purification process was developed to upgrade a CO₂/N₂ mixture captured from greenhouse gas emission plants as a feasibility study for a second capture unit or captured CO₂ purifier. To purify 90% CO₂ with balance N₂ as a captured gas mixture, two‐bed pressure swing adsorption and pressure vacuum swing adsorption (PVSA) processes using activated carbon were experimentally and theoretically studied at adsorption pressures of 250–650 kPa and a fixed vacuum pressure of 50 kPa. CO₂ with higher than 95% purity was produced with more than 89% recovery. However, a four‐bed PVSA process could successfully produce CO₂ with greater than 98% purity and 90% recovery. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 1051–1063, 2017     

Large‐scale computational screening of metal‐organic frameworks for CH4/H2 separation

Molecular simulations were performed to study a diverse collection of 105 metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) for their ability to remove CH₄ from CH₄/H₂ mixture. To investigate the practical industrial application in a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process, working capacity was also considered in addition to selectivity. The results show that MOFs are promising candidate for this separation, which give higher adsorption selectivity with similar working capacity and higher working capacity with similar selectivity than the traditional nanoporous materials such as carbonaceous materials and zeolites. To quantitatively describe the structure–property relationship for CH₄/H₂ mixture separation in MOFs, a new concept named “adsorbility” was defined, which shows strong correlation with limiting selectivity, with a correlation coefficient (r²) of 0.86. This work shows that although MOFs are promising materials for CH₄/H₂ mixture separation, more investigations that consider both selectivity and working capacity are necessary to screen MOFs in practical PSA application. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

Phosphonates Meet Metal−Organic Frameworks: Towards CO2 Adsorption

Here we report a new highly microporous zirconium phosphonate material synthesized under solvothemal conditions. The specific Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of the “unconventional metal−organic framework” (UMOF) is measured to be ∼900 m²/g, after following an appropriate activation protocol. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) shows that the material bears a free −OH functionality on the phosphonate linker that may interact with CO₂. CO₂ adsorption isotherms were collected and a measured heat of adsorption of 31 kJ/mol was obtained. In addition, adsorption isotherms of CO₂, N₂, and CH₄ at 298 K combined with Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) show that the material can be expected to display high selectivities for uptake of CO₂ versus N₂ or CH₄.     

CO2–CH4 phase equilibria on modified multi‐walled carbon nanotubes using Gibbs excess energy models based on vacancy solution theory

CO₂ and CH₄ equilibrium adsorption are predicted by Excess Gibbs energy models based on vacancy solution theory, for single and binary mixture on Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) functioned by –NH₂ group. The experimental data of single gas adsorption isotherms were obtained at moderate pressures and temperatures using the volumetric method in a static gaseous set up. Firstly, the equilibrium pressures related to the adsorbed amounts, for single gases, were correlated on Wilson and Flory–Huggins activity coefficient equations based on vacancy solution theory and the model parameters were determined by fitting the model on the experimental data. Secondly, the pure component parameters were implemented in extended Wilson and Flory–Huggins equations for CO₂ and CH₄ mixture to predict the gas–solid phase equilibria. The results showed fairly good agreement between the experiments and both Gibbs models. Finally, the studied models were compared with the popular model of Extended Langmuir. The results revealed more accurately and precisely prediction of Wilson and Flory–Huggins against Langmuir model for mixed gas of CO₂ and CH₄ on MWCNT–NH₂. © 2011 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering     

A method for efficiently solving the IAST equations with an application to adsorber dynamics

The Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) developed by Myers and Prausnitz and Radke and Prausnitz provides a powerful tool to calculate multicomponent adsorption equilibria based on single component adsorption isotherms. An important aspect of the application of IAST is that it requires the solution of an implicit algebraic system of equations. Analytical solutions can be derived only for few simple single component isotherm models. This work offers a new concept to solve the equations of the IAST for mixtures of N components characterized by nondecreasing single component adsorption isotherm behavior. The approach is based on transforming the algebraic system of IAST equations to a system of ODEs with one specified initial value. This work also provides analytical expressions for the partial derivatives of the predicted adsorption equilibria and increases the efficiency of numerical calculations for fixed‐bed adsorber dynamics. The strength of the solution method is illustrated in case studies. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 1263–1277, 2013     

改性蜂窝状活性炭吸附二氧化碳和氮气的热力学

蜂窝状活性炭具有较高的比表面积、多孔道、压降低、吸脱附速率快、不易堵塞等优点,因此被认为是捕集烟道气中CO₂重要吸附材料。选用蜂窝状煤基和椰壳两种活性炭吸附剂,采用磁悬浮热天平分别测定了CO₂和N₂的吸附等温线。采用1 mol·L^-1 K₂CO₃对蜂窝状活性炭材料进行浸渍改性,提高在低二氧化碳分压下的CO₂吸附性能。采用Langmuir、multi-site Langmuir和Virial 3种模型对吸附平衡数据进行拟合,得出热力学参数,为后续吸附工艺优化设计提供基础数据。结果表明在实验范围内3种模型均能对实验测量的等温线进行较好的拟合,Langmuir模型总体拟合效果最好。     

Molecular simulation studies of separation of CH4/H2 mixture in metal-organic frameworks with interpenetration and mixed-ligand

In our previous work, we have investigated the adsorption selectivity of CH₄/H₂ in three pairs of isoreticular metal-organic frameworks (IRMOFs) with and without interpenetration to study the effect of interpenetration on gas mixture separation through Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, the self-diffusivities and the diffusion mechanism of single H₂ and CH₄ in these MOFs were examined by molecular dynamics simulations. In this work, we extend our previous work to mixed-ligand MOFs to investigate the effects of interpenetration as well as mixed-ligand on both equilibrium-based and kinetic-based gas mixture separation. We found that methane adsorption selectivity is much enhanced in the selected mixed-ligand interpenetrated MOFs compared with their non-interpenetrated counterparts, similar to what we found before for IRMOFs with single-ligand. At room temperature and atmospheric pressure, molecular-level segregation was observed in the mixed-ligand MOFs, and the extent of the effects of interpenetration is comparable for single-ligand and mixed-ligand MOFs. In addition, we found that the diffusion selectivity in the interpenetrated MOFs is similar to the one in their non-interpenetrated counterparts, while the permeation selectivity in the former is much higher than that in the latter, which corroborates our expectation that interpenetration is a good strategy to improve the overall performance of a material as a membrane in separation applications based only on the single component diffusion results. Furthermore, the CH₄ permeability of the selected MOF membrane was also evaluated.     

A highly stable metal‐organic framework with optimum aperture size for CO2 capture

We herein report an optimal modulated hydrothermal (MHT) synthesis of a highly stable zirconium metal‐organic framework (MOF) with an optimum aperture size of 3.93 Å that is favorable for CO₂ adsorption. It exhibits excellent CO₂ uptake capacities of 2.50 and 5.63 mmol g^?1 under 0.15 and 1 bar at 298 K, respectively, which are among the highest of all the pristine water‐stable MOFs reported so far. In addition, we have designed a lab‐scale breakthrough set‐up to study its CO₂ capture performance under both dry and wet conditions. The velocity at the exit of breakthrough column for mass balance accuracy is carefully measured using argon with a fixed flow rate as the internal reference. Other factors that may affect the breakthrough dynamics, such as pressure drop and its impact on the roll‐up of the weaker component have been studied in details. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 4103–4114, 2017