CO2 Capture by Temperature Swing Adsorption: Working Capacity As Affected by Temperature and CO2 Partial Pressure

Even though the performances of CO 2 adsorbent materials for temperature swing adsorption (TSA) are typically assessed based on the equilibrium adsorption capacity, the actual feasibility of a sorbent in real applications cannot be reliably inferred from only this parameter. Indeed, more than the maximum CO 2 uptake achievable at equilibrium, it is necessary to know the real quantity of CO 2 that can be captured in a complete adsorption/desorption cycle, namely, the difference between the quantity of CO 2 adsorbed under adsorption and desorption conditions, which is defined as the CO 2 working capacity. In this work, dynamic breakthrough and regeneration tests have been performed using a fine porous activated carbon in a lab-scale TSA sound-assisted fluidized-bed rig to experimentally evaluate the CO 2 working capacity. In particular, the standard sound-assisted fluidized-bed TSA cycle has been modified by applying the heating and purging (H&P) strategy to increase the cycle performances with regard to the CO 2 purity and recovery. Then, the effect of adsorption/desorption temperatures (25–150 °C) and CO 2 partial pressure (0.05–0.20 atm) has been evaluated.