Evaluation of Mg-MOF-74 for post-combustion carbon dioxide capture through pressure swing adsorption

Abstract

This paper presents a computational study of an energy-efficient technique for post-combustion CO2 capture using novel material, namely, Mg-MOF-74, using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) processes. A detailed one-dimensional, transient mathematical model has been formulated to include the heat and mass transfer, the pressure drop and multicomponent mass diffusion. The PSA model has been further extended by incorporating a heat regenerating process to enhance CO2 sequestration. The heat dissipated during adsorption is stored in packed sand bed and released during desorption step for heating purpose. The model has been implemented on a MATLAB program using second-order discretization. Validation of the model was performed using a complete experimental data set for CO2 sequestration using zeolite 13X. Simulation of the PSA experiment on fixed bed has been carried out to evaluate the capacity of Mg-MOF-74 for CO2 capture with varying feed gas temperature of 28 and 100 °C, varying pressurization and purge times and heat regeneration. It was discovered that the PSA process with heat regeneration system might be advantageous because it achieves equivalent amount of CO2 sequestration in fewer PSA cycles compared with PSA without heat regeneration system. Based on the simulated conditions, CO2 recovery with Mg-MOF-74 gives high percentage purity (above 98%) for the captured CO2. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.