Optimizing Solid Sorbents for CO2 Capture

One significant hurdle to the deployment of post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the energy consumption of separating high purity carbon dioxide from a flue gas stream. In order to minimize this energy consumption, it is necessary to optimize both the process used to separate the CO2 and the material used in the process. We will present methodology and results for concurrent optimization of both the material and the process for temperature and pressure swing adsorption using solid sorbents. By focusing on the energy penalty we will provide a tool for screening and ranking solid sorbents as well as a means for performing parametric analysis to determine the optimal material properties that would minimize the energy penalty of CCS in an idealized system. These tools are also useful for determining thermodynamically and energetically favourable processes for the materials discovered. We discuss the regimes of favourable operation and necessary advances from both a material and process standpoint to provide goals for process and material developers.