The Role of Water in Adsorption-based CO2 Capture Systems

Cyclic adsorption processes such as Pressure, Temperature, and Vacuum Swing Adsorption have received increased attention as potential techniques for the capture of CO2 from gas mixtures in industrial processes. A key challenge in the design of these processes is to gain a thorough understanding of the interactions between the numerous gas phase components and the sorbent material, as an effective separation requires a selective adsorption between carbon dioxide and the other gases in the mixture. In all cases of interest moisture is present and interferes with the mechanisms involved in the adsorption of CO2 and other gases; it is therefore important to study the effect it has on the separation process. This impact can be assessed by measuring the equilibrium adsorption of water vapor on AP3- 60 activated carbon (Chemviron Carbon, Germany), as well as investigating its dynamics.