Niklas Hedin

Sorbents for CO2 capture from flue gas—aspects from materials and theoretical chemistry

Predictions of future climate change have triggered a search for ways to reduce the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) assists this goal by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and CO(2) adsorbents in particular can reduce the costs of CO(2) capture. Here, we review the nanoscale sorbent materials that have been developed and the theoretical basis for their function in CO(2) separation, particularly from N(2)-rich flue gases.

Proto-Calcite and Proto-Vaterite in Amorphous Calcium Carbonates

Amorphous order: Amorphous calcium carbonates (ACC) have an intrinsic structure relating to the crystalline polymorphs of calcite and vaterite. The proto-crystalline structures of calcite and vater ...

Mechanisms and Kinetics for Sorption of CO2 on Bicontinuous Mesoporous Silica Modified with n-Propylamine

We studied equilibrium adsorption and uptake kinetics and identified molecular species that formed during sorption of carbon dioxide on amine-modified silica. Bicontinuous silicas (AMS-6 and MCM-48) were postsynthetically modified with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane or (3-aminopropyl)methyldiethoxysilane, and amine-modified AMS-6 adsorbed more CO2 than did amine-modified MCM-48. By in situ FTIR spectroscopy, we showed that the amine groups reacted with CO2 and formed ammonium carbamate ion pairs as well as carbamic acids under both dry and moist conditions. The carbamic acid was stabilized by hydrogen bonds, and ammonium carbamate ion pairs formed preferably on sorbents with high densities of amine groups. Under dry conditions, silylpropylcarbamate formed, slowly, by condensing carbamic acid and silanol groups. The ratio of ammonium carbamate ion pairs to silylpropylcarbamate was higher for samples with high amine contents than samples with low amine contents. Bicarbonates or carbonates did not form under dry or moist conditions. The uptake of CO2 was enhanced in the presence of water, which was rationalized by the observed release of additional amine groups under these conditions and related formation of ammonium carbamate ion pairs. Distinct evidence for a fourth and irreversibly formed moiety was observed under sorption of CO2 under dry conditions. Significant amounts of physisorbed, linear CO2 were detected at relatively high partial pressures of CO2, such that they could adsorb only after the reactive amine groups were consumed.

Carbon Dioxide Capture on Amine-Rich Carbonaceous Materials Derived from Glucose

The synthesis of carbonaceous materials with a high surface density of amino functions for CO(2) sorption and sequestration is reported. The amino-rich carbonaceous materials are characterized by elemental analysis, N(2) sorption, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, zeta potential, TGA and FTIR measurements. A detailed discussion on the use of these materials in CO(2) capture is provided. The materials show significant sorption capabilities for CO(2) (4.3 mmol g(-1)at -20 degrees C and 1 bar). Furthermore, they show a high apparent selectivity for CO(2) over N(2) at both low and high temperatures.

Temperature-Induced Uptake of CO2 and Formation of Carbamates in Mesocaged Silica Modified with n-Propylamines

Adsorption-mediated CO(2) separation can reduce the cost of carbon capture and storage. The reduction in cost requires adsorbents with high capacities for CO(2) sorption and high CO(2)-over-N(2) selectivity. Amine-modified sorbents are promising candidates for carbon capture. To investigate the details of CO(2) adsorption in such materials, we studied mesocaged (cubic, Pm3n symmetry) silica adsorbents with tethered propylamines using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and volumetric uptake experiments. The degree of heterogeneity in these coatings was varied by either cosynthesizing or postsynthetically introducing the propylamine modification. In situ FTIR spectroscopy revealed the presence of both physisorbed and chemisorbed CO(2) in the materials. We present direct molecular evidence for physisorption using FTIR spectroscopy in mesoporous silica sorbents modified with propylamines. Physisorption reduced the CO(2)-over-N(2) selectivity in amine-rich sorbents. Samples with homogeneous coatings showed typical CO(2) adsorption trends and large quantities of IR-observable physisorbed CO(2). The uptake of CO(2) in mesocaged materials with heterogeneous propylamine coatings was higher at high temperatures than at low temperatures. At higher temperatures and low pressures, the postsynthetically modified materials adsorbed more CO(2) than did the extracted ones, even though the surface area after modification was clearly reduced and the coverage of primary amine groups was lower. The principal mode of CO(2) uptake in postsynthetically modified mesoporous silica was chemisorption. The chemisorbed moieties were present mainly as carbamate-ammonium ion pairs, resulting from the quantitative transformation of primary amine groups during CO(2) adsorption as established by NIR spectroscopy. The heterogeneity in the coatings promoted the formation of these ion pairs. The average propylamine-propylamine distance must be small to allow the formation of carbamate-propylammonium ion pairs.

In Situ Synthesis of an Imidazolate‐4‐amide‐5‐imidate Ligand and Formation of a Microporous Zinc–Organic Framework with H2‐and CO2‐Storage Ability

In Situ Synthesis of an Imidazolate-4-amide-5-imidate Ligand and Formation of a Microporous Zinc-Organic Framework with H-2-and CO2-Storage Ability

NaKA sorbents with high CO2-over-N2 selectivity and high capacity to adsorb CO2

The uptake of carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas by zeolite NaKA was studied. A very high ideal CO(2)-over-N(2) selectivity and a high CO(2) capacity were observed at an optimal K(+) content of 17 at.%. NaKA is a very promising adsorbent for CO(2) separation from water-free flue gases.

Aluminophosphates for CO2 Separation

The pressure-swing adsorption method for carbon dioxide capture would ideally be facilitated by adsorbents with a high capacity and a high selectivity for CO₂. Several aluminophosphates with 8-ring window apertures (AlPO₄-17, AlPO₄-18, AlPO₄-53, and AlPO₄-25) were synthesized by hydrothermal crystallization, calcined, and their CO₂ uptake and CO₂/N₂ selectivity were studied. CO₂ and N₂ uptake was determined for pressures up to 101 kPa at 273 and 293 K. Langmuir and Toth adsorption models were used to describe the adsorption isotherms. The CO₂ and N₂ uptakes strongly indicated that the squeezed 8-ring windows of certain aluminophosphates can sieve CO₂ from a CO₂ and N₂ gas mixture. Both AlPO₄-53 and AlPO₄-25 exhibited a remarkably higher uptake of CO₂ compared to N₂. The hydrophilicity of the AlPO₄ materials was investigated by means of water adsorption, and the results showed that all of the tested aluminophosphates were less water sensitive than a benchmark zeolite (13X). In particular, AlPO₄-53 and AlPO₄-25 showed a very low degree of water uptake with up to 20-30 % relative humidity. Determination of cyclic adsorption and desorption confirmed the relatively hydrophobic nature of the aluminophosphates, which render them less energy costly for the regeneration of adsorbents.

Carbon dioxide sorbents with propylamine groups-silica functionalized with a fractional factorial design approach.

Mesoporous silica particles (Davisil) were functionalized with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) in a fractional factorial design with 19 different synthesis and uptake experiments. The number of amino groups and the uptake of CO(2) were optimized in a 2(V)(5-1) design. Most important to functionalization was the amount of water present during synthesis, the reaction time, and pretreating the silica with a mineral acid; certain two-way interactions were shown to be statistically significant as well. Modifications performed at 110 or 80 °C showed no significant differences concerning amine content or uptake of CO(2). Properly choosing center points for the discrete variables is problematic and is somewhat related to the lack of fit with respect to CO(2) uptake; the regression was good. Solid-state (29)Si NMR showed that the APTES was mainly fully condensed. Specific surface areas did not correlate with the number of n-propylamine groups on the silica, which is indicative of differential levels of heterogeneity in the coverage of propylamines. The uptake of CO(2) and N(2) was measured from -20 to 70 °C and from 0 to 1 bar and parametrized by the Freundlich isotherm. Amine-modified silica adsorbed significant amounts of CO(2), especially at the low partial pressure, which is important for CO(2) capture from flue gas. At such pressures, samples with a high density of amine (4 amines/nm(2)) showed a much higher uptake of CO(2) than did those with densities of ∼2-3 amines/nm(2), reflecting differential tendencies to form propylammonium-propylcarbamate ion pairs; these require close proximity among amine groups to form. Water affected the uptake of carbon dioxide in different ways. Certain samples took up more moist CO(2) gas than dry CO(2), and others took up less moist CO(2) than dry CO(2), which is indicative of differential tendencies toward water adsorption. We conclude that experimental design is a time-efficient approach to the functionalization of silica with propylamine groups.

Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Embedded in Activated Carbons Prepared from Hydrothermally Treated Waste Biomass

Particles of iron oxide (Fe3O4 ; 20–40 nm) were embedded within activated carbons during the activation of hydrothermally carbonized (HTC) biomasses in a flow of CO2. Four different HTC biomass samples (horse manure, grass cuttings, beer production waste, and biosludge) were used as precursors for the activated carbons. Nanoparticles of iron oxide formed from iron catalyst included in the HTC biomasses. After systematic optimization, the activated carbons had specific surface areas of about 800 m2g1. The pore size distributions of the activated carbons depended strongly on the degree of carbonization of the precursors. Activated carbons prepared from highly carbonized precursors had mainly micropores, whereas those prepared from less carbonized precursors contained mainly mesopores. Given the strong magnetism of the activated carbon–nano-Fe3O4 composites, they could be particularly useful for water purification.