Probing the potential of polyester for CO2 capture

Global warming, the major environmental issue confronted by humanity today, is caused by rising level of green house gases. Carbon capture and storage technologies offer potential for tapering CO2 emission in the atmosphere. Adsorption is believed to be a promising technology for CO2 capture. For this purpose, a polyester was synthesized by polycondensation of 1,3,5-benzenetricarbonyl trichloride and cyanuric acid in pyridine and dichloromethane mixture. The polymer was then characterized using FT-IR, TGA, BET surface area and pore size analysis, FESEM and CO2 adsorption measurements. The CO2 adsorption capacities of the polyester were evaluated at a pressure of 1 bar and two different temperatures (273 and 298 K). The performance of these materials to adsorb CO2 at atmospheric pressure was measured by optimum CO2 uptake of 0.244 mmol/g at 273 K. The synthesized polyester, therefore, has the potential to be exploited as CO2 adsorbent in pre-combustion capture process.