Pressure-swing Process Research Articles

Structure I methane hydrate confined in C8-grafted SBA-15: A highly efficient storage system enabling ultrafast methane loading and unloading

Confinement of water and methane in mesopores of hydrophobized SBA-15 is demonstrated to promote methane hydrate formation. In comparison to as-synthesized SBA-15, hydrophobization by C8 grafting accelerates the kinetics of methane storage in and delivery from the hydrate. C8 grafting density was determined at 0.5 groups nm−2 based on TGA and quantitative NMR spectroscopy. Multinuclear 1H-1H DQSQ and 1H-1H RFDR NMR provided spectroscopic evidence for the occurrence of C8 chains inside the mesopores of SBA-15, by showcasing close spatial proximity between the grafted C8 chains and pore-intruded water species. X-ray diffraction demonstrates formation of Structure I hydrate on SBA-15 C8. At 7.0 MPa and 248 K, the water-to-hydrate conversion on hydrophobized SBA-15 C8 reaches 96% as compared to only 71% on a pristine SBA-15 sample with comparable pore size, pore volume and surface area. The clathrate loading amounted to 14.8 g/g. 2D correlation NMR spectroscopy (1H-13C CP-HETCOR, 1H-1H RFDR) reveals hydrate formation occurs within pores of SBA-15 C8 as well as in interparticle volumes. Following the initial crystallization of SBA-15 C8-supported methane hydrate taking several hours, a pressure swing process at 248 K allows to desorb and re-adsorb methane from the structure within minutes and without thawing the frozen water structure. Fast loading and unloading of methane was achieved in 19 subsequent cycles without losses in kinetics. The ability to harvest the gas and regenerate the structure without the need to re-freeze the water represents a 50% energy gain with respect to melting and subsequently recrystallizing the hydrate at 298 K and 248 K, respectively. After methane desorption, a small amount of residual methane hydrate in combination with an amorphous yet locally ordered ice phase is observed using 13C and 2H NMR spectroscopy. This effect offers an explanation for the enhanced hydrate formation kinetics in adsorption-desorption cycles. These findings open new perspectives for clathrate hydrate-based methane storage.

Multivariate Flexible Framework with High Usable Hydrogen Capacity in a Reduced Pressure Swing Process

Step-shaped adsorption-desorption of gaseous payloads by flexible metal-organic frameworks can facilitate the delivery of large usable capacities with significantly reduced energetic penalties. This is desirable for the storage, transport, and delivery of H2, as prototypical adsorbents require large swings in pressure and temperature to achieve usable capacities approaching their total capacities. However, the weak physisorption of H2 typically necessitates undesirably high pressures to induce the framework phase change. As de novo design of flexible frameworks is exceedingly challenging, the ability to intuitively adapt known frameworks is required. We demonstrate that the multivariate linker approach is a powerful tool for tuning the phase change behavior of flexible frameworks. In this work, 2-methyl-5,6-difluorobenzimidazolate was solvothermally incorporated into the known framework CdIF-13 (sod-Cd(benzimidazolate)2), resulting in the multivariate framework sod-Cd(benzimidazolate)1.87(2-methyl-5,6-difluorobenzimidazolate)0.13 (ratio = 14:1), which exhibited a considerably reduced stepped adsorption threshold pressure while maintaining the desirable adsorption-desorption profile and capacity of CdIF-13. At 77 K, the multivariate framework exhibits stepped H2 adsorption with saturation below 50 bar and minimal desorption hysteresis at 5 bar. At 87 K, saturation of step-shaped adsorption occurs by 90 bar, with hysteresis closing at 30 bar. These adsorption-desorption profiles enable usable capacities in a mild pressure swing process above 1 mass %, representing 85-92% of the total capacities. This work demonstrates that the desirable performance of flexible frameworks can be readily adapted through the multivariate approach to enable efficient storage and delivery of weakly physisorbing species.

Conceptual design of a crystallization-based trioxane production process

Trioxane, a cyclic trimer of formaldehyde, is an important intermediate that is mainly used as a source of water-free formaldehyde in chemical production processes. Different routes for the production of trioxane from aqueous formaldehyde solutions have been described in the literature, which all have in common that they are energy-intensive. In this work, the conceptual design of a new production process for trioxane is presented. It is a modification of a state-of-the-art pressure swing process from the literature, where the most critical distillation step is replaced with a crystallization. The new crystallization-based process and the pressure swing process were simulated in a consistent manner based on a well-established physico-chemical model for the ternary system (formaldehyde + water + trioxane). To obtain a sound basis for the description of the crystallization, solid–liquid equilibria in the ternary system, for which previously no data was available, were measured at conditions relevant for the process. A comparison of the two processes showed that the new crystallization-based process has a considerably reduced energy demand and much smaller recycle streams. Furthermore, it was found that the crystallization can be performed efficiently at temperatures well above 273 K. All this makes the new crystallization-based process an attractive candidate for trioxane production.

Sustainable concept design including economic, environment and inherent safety criteria: Process intensification-reactive pressure swing distillation

In this paper, a systematic framework for concept design of sustainable chemical process is used to investigate process intensification-the reactive pressure swing process considering inherent safety, environment performance and economic performance comprehensively. The transesterification reaction between propylene glycol monomethyl ether and methyl acetate for propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate production is used as case to accomplish this research. The total annual cost, the total greenhouse gases and two inherent indexes referred to process route index and process stream index are used to account for economic performance, environment performance and inherent safety of the overall route and individual parameter, respectively. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates reaction pressure swing as process intensification has strong interaction behavior and nonlinearity degree in term of economic performance. The inherent safety, environment performance and economic performance of reactive pressure swing distillation is evaluated and compared with conventional three-columns process. Compared with conventional process, the main contribution to inherent safety level is reduction of pressure factor in term of process route index for reaction pressure swing distillate process. The results illustrate the reaction pressure swing as process intensification can achieve sustainable chemical process with inherent safer, environmentally friendly and economic performance.

Design of absorption process for CO2 capture using cyano based anion ionic liquid

Ionic liquids are regarded as potential candidate for CO2 absorption because of their tunable properties, wide liquid range, negligible vapor pressure and their high CO2 solubility. This work aimed to study the feasibility of CO2 separation from gas containing methane and carbon dioxide using a cyano based anion ionic liquid “1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetracyanoborate” [hmim][TCB] as physical absorbent due to its high CO2 capacity and its low viscosity comparing to the organic solvent DEPG called Selexol. A comparative study among different proposed case studies for CO2 absorption in the both cases of solvent has been carried out to improve the performance of the separation process. Results show that for feed gas containing between 20 and 40mol.% of CO2, it is well favorable to use the IL instead of DEPG. At 5mol.% of CO2 in feed gas it was found that lower solvent flow rate is required for the absorption with [hmim][TCB] than DEPG and the solvent can be regenerated by combining both the pressure and temperature swing process.

Regeneration of CO2 absorbent with membrane contactor via pressure swing

A new method to regenerate high pressure CO2 absorbent is presented in this paper, where PTFE hollow fiber membrane contactor was used as a gas–liquid separator in pressure swing process. CO2 desorption happened in the membrane contactor at the same time. The two mass transfer mechanisms were analysed through calculation of viscous flux and mass transfer coefficients. Experimental results showed that CO2 loading in regenerated absorbent increased with absorbent flow rate. This was due to decrease in membrane area available for CO2 desorption, as most of the membrane area was utilized for gas-liquid separation. Co-current configuration exhibited higher CO2 desorption driving force compared to counter-current configuration, hence its CO2 loading in regenerated absorbent was lower. When integrated with membrane contactor for CO2 absorption, stable and consistent performance was observed. Unlike conventional flash drum, membrane contactor did not have requirement on flashed gas velocity, because the membrane itself functioned as a screen to prevent fine liquid droplets from escaping the system along with flashed gas. Results from this study show that vessel size reduction up to 2.5 times could be achieved when PTFE membrane contactor was used, with absorbent regeneration energy as low as 0.94 GJ/ton CO2.

Oxygen separation from air by the combined temperature swing and pressure swing processes using oxygen storage materials Y1\u2212x(Tb/Ce)xMnO3+\u03b4

Hexagonal Y1−xRxMnO3+δ (R: other than Y rare earth elements) oxides have been recently introduced as promising oxygen storage materials that can be utilized in the temperature swing processes for the oxygen separation and air enrichment. In the present work, the average and local structures of Tb- and Ce-substituted Y0.7Tb0.15Ce0.15MnO3+δ and Y0.6Tb0.2Ce0.2MnO3+δ materials were studied, and their oxygen storage-related properties have been evaluated. The fully oxidized samples show the presence of a significant amount of the highly oxygen-loaded the so-called Hex3 phase, attaining an average oxygen content of δ ≈ 0.41 for both compositions. Extensive studies of the temperature swing process conducted in air and N2 over the temperature range of 180–360 °C revealed large and reversible oxygen content changes taking place with only a small temperature differences and the high dependence on the oxygen partial pressure. Significant for practical performance, the highest reported for this class of compounds, oxygen storage capacity of 1900 μmol O g−1 in air was obtained for the optimized materials and swing process. In the combined temperature–oxygen partial pressure swing process, the oxygen storage capacity of 1200 μmol O g−1 was achieved.

Exergoenvironmental Analysis of Tetrahydrofuran/Ethanol Separation through Extractive and Pressure-Swing Distillation

Abstract Extractive distillation uses a high-boiling point solvent for changing the relative volatility of the azeotropic mixture, whereas pressure-swing distillation is based on the difference of operating pressures for such a purpose. In this paper, said separation technologies were applied to a tetrahydrofuran/ethanol mixture and compared with regard to their thermodynamic and environmental performances. The former was assessed by determining the total exergy destruction rate and rational efficiency of each configuration, while the latter was evaluated by estimating their respective indirect carbon emissions. The results showed that the pressure-swing process has not only the lowest exergy destruction rate (383.1 kW) but also the lowest CO2 emission rate (678.7 kg/h), which is mainly due to its lower thermal energy requirements. A sensitivity analysis was then carried out in order to determine how the carbon emissions respond to both the efficiency and the fuel type of the utility boiler.

Relevance of regulatory constraints in designing pharmaceutical manufacturing processes: A case study on waste solvent recovery

This work deals with the relevance of regulatory constraints on the outcome of process design in pharmaceutical manufacturing with a case study on waste solvent recovery. The role of the investigated process was to separate and purify tetrahydrofuran from an azeotropic mixture with water and methanol. As the technologies to overcome the distillation boundary, zeolite membrane, pressure swing, azeotropic distillation, and entrainer processes were considered as alternatives, and were modeled and evaluated with regard to economy, environmental impact, and environmental, health, and safety hazards. The target concentration of recovered solvent, which cannot be altered because of regulations, was imagined to be modifiable, and two design problems, initial and extended, were formulated. A type of pressure swing process that was found to be optimal in the extended problem was equal to or better than any of the optimal alternatives in the initial design problem. Remarkably, the net present value of this alternative was about 17% larger than the maximum in the initial design problem. These results confirmed quantitatively that the way in which regulatory constraints are taken into account makes a difference in the outcome and that the appropriate formulation of a design problem is critical for pharmaceutical manufacturing processes.

The removal and capture of CO2 from biogas by vacuum pressure swing process using silica gel

Abstract In this study, silica gel was employed as adsorbent in a vacuum pressure swing adsorption process for the removal and capture of CO2 from biogas. Adsorption isotherms of CH4 and CO2 on silica gel were measured experimentally, meanwhile a series of breakthrough experiments were also performed on a fixed bed packed with silica gel. In order to design experiments of VPSA process more reasonable, Central Composite Design Methodology was employed to implement the design of experiments, while Response Surface Methodology was used to analyze experimental results. Experimental results showed that the biogas simulated by 55% CH4 balanced with CO2 could be concentrated to an enriched CH4 stream with CH4 purity higher than 98%, after most of the CO2 had been depleted from feed gas by VPSA process. Moreover, dynamic and transient behaviors, such as temperature profiles and concentration profiles in adsorption bed, were revealed by numerical modeling. A good consistency between experimental data and simulation results was observed. Furthermore, an industrial scale dual pressure swing adsorption unit was designed and evaluated by numerical simulation to achieve the goal of CH4 enrichment and CO2 capture simultaneously. Simulation results indicated that the simulated biogas could be separated to an enriched CH4 stream at 98.01% CH4 purity and 97.31% CH4 recovery, as well as a concentrated CO2 stream at 96.74% CO2 purity and 97.58% CO2 recovery.

Novel pressure and temperature swing processes for CO2 capture using low viscosity ionic liquids

For gas sweetening, physical solvents (e.g. Selexol, Rectisol and Fluor) are favored over chemical solvents when the partial pressure of CO2 in the flue gas is high. The CO2 rich solvent is usually regenerated by reducing the pressure without adding heat. The current work presents a comparative study of the low-viscous ionic liquid (IL) 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide ([C6mim][TCM]) versus the established physical solvent Selexol (DEPG, a mixture of dimethyl ethers of polyethylene glycol) used as a benchmark. The process being investigated is the sweetening of synthetic natural gas mainly consisting of CO2 and CH4 (about 13 kton·y−1). The parameters used for the fair comparison include: (i) the CO2 solubility (removal capability and solvent efficiency), (ii) the energy needed for solvent regeneration and (iii) the required equipment to achieve the same performance in terms of separation selectivity and specification of the purified gas. Besides the pressure swing process configuration commonly used in the absorption/desorption processes involving physical solvents, novel temperature swing and a combination of the two are evaluated including their impact on the primary energy requirement and investment costs for CO2 capture. In this work, it is concluded that a combination of pressure- and temperature swing is the most feasible configuration for solvent regeneration. The pressure in this novel concept is reduced to only 0.92 MPa in the lowest pressure flash tank as compared to 0.1 MPa in the conventional pressure swing process, reducing the recompression costs considerably as the absorber operates at 2.8 MPa.

Fly Ash Derived Lithium Silicate for in-situ Pre-combustion CO2 Capture

Steam gasification process converts biomass into a mixture of CO, CO2, CH4, and H2. In this work, a fly ash derived lithium silicate material (Li-FA) was tested for the removal of CO2 using simulated syngas at low gasification temperature. The CO2 uptake tests were carried out using a high-pressure thermogravimetric system at 380°C and 500°C, 15 bar and simulating a synthetic biomass derived syngas mixture. The tests confirmed that the material is able to selectively absorb CO2 at 380°C (1.2 mmol CO2 / g sorbent) and 500°C (2.77 mmol/g) and in presence of 50% H2O, 30% H2, 20% CO2 at 15 bar. However, only 75% of the adsorbed CO2 was desorbed under the same capture temperatures and 15 bar, by switching the reactor atmosphere from CO2 to N2. This suggests that a pressure swing process or a higher desorption temperature are required for complete desorption.

Fluxional Behavior of cis-Fe(DMeOPrPE)2(H)2 (DMeOPrPE = 1,2-[bis(dimethoxypropyl)phosphino]ethane); Implications for the Pressure Swing Purification of Natural Gas

Materials such as trans-Fe(DMeOPrPE)2(X)(H2O)+ (DMeOPrPE = 1,2-[bis(dimethoxypropyl)phosphino]ethane; X = Cl or H) show considerable promise as sorbents for the removal of N2 from natural gas in a pressure swing process. One problem, however, is that in long-term tests these sorbents slowly degrade over a period of many weeks. This study probed the degradation mechanism for the purpose of finding ways to stabilize the sorbents. To investigate the likelihood of degradation initiated by Fe–P bond dissociation, the fluxional behavior of the related cis-Fe(DMeOPrPE)2(H)2 complex was investigated by variable temperature 1P{1H} NMR spectroscopy. Analysis of the spectra gave the following activation parameters for the fluxional process: ΔH‡ = 11.6 kcal/mol and ΔS‡ = −9.2 cal/mol K. These results suggest that Fe–P bond dissociation (20–45 kcal/mol) is not occurring in the fluxional process and by implication that Fe–P bond dissociation is not initiating the decomposition of the trans-Fe(DMeOPrPE)2(X)(H2O)+ sorbents. Consequently, macrocycle ligands may not be the best approach for stabilizing the sorbents, as we have previously proposed. A “tetrahedral jump” mechanism is proposed for the fluxional process in cis-Fe(DMeOPrPE)2(H)2.

An In-Depth Structural Study of the Carbon Dioxide Adsorption Process in the Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks CPO-27-M.

The CO2 adsorption process in the family of porous metal-organic framework materials CPO-27-M (M=Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) was studied by variable-temperature powder synchrotron X-ray diffraction under isobaric conditions. The Rietveld analysis of the data provided a time-lapse view of the adsorption process on CPO-27-M. The results confirm the temperature-dependent order of occupation of the three adsorption sites in the pores of the CPO-27-M materials. In CPO-27-M (M=Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, and Zn), the adsorption sites are occupied in sequential order, primarily because of the high affinity of CO2 for the open metal sites. CPO-27-Cu deviates from this stepwise mechanism, and the adsorption sites at the metal cation and the second site are occupied in parallel. The temperature dependence of the site occupancy of the individual CO2 adsorption sites derived from the diffraction data is reflected in the shape of the volumetric sorption isotherms. The fast kinetics and high reversibility observed in these experiments support the suitability of these materials for use in temperature- or pressure-swing processes for carbon capture.

Dehydration of Ethanol by PSA Process with Pressure Equalization Step Added

AbstractIn this work, the ethanol dehydration production process is carried out using the Mathematical Modeling Pressure Adsorption Process. A new model is suggested, it has two equalization steps, and is compared with the Industrial Pressure Swing Process operating cycle. An analysis of the effects of introducing the pressure equalization step is performed on four main response variables: purity, production, recovery and energy consumption and it is compared with the current cycle configuration operating in the industry. We used Aspen Adsorption for the valuation and simulation of the cyclic PSA process. We analyzed and processed the simulation results in Statgraphics Centurion to obtain optimum operating conditions for the process. This evaluation shows that purity decreases slightly, whereas recovery and production increase. The most important thing is that the energy consumption is reduced. These results clearly show that by modifying the operating cycle schema, optimum operating conditions also change. The optimization of the new cycle was executed considering as variables bed pressure, adsorption time and purging flow. We found that a smaller column is more productive for the equalization cycle than that of a 14m bed, which is optimal in the industrial cycle with a consequent reduction in adsorbent material.

Isothermal Pressure-Swing Cycling of Strontium Doped Lanthanum Manganite Oxides for Fuel Production

Water splitting for fuel production via isothermal pressure-swing cycling has recently emerged as a means of converting solar heat to a storable medium [1]. For the generation of hydrogen, the process involves the high temperature reduction of a variable valence oxide under an inert gas of low oxygen content followed by oxidation by steam at the same high temperature. Due to thermolysis, the higher the temperature the greater the oxidizing power of the steam, providing a means of converting thermal energy to chemical energy. In comparison to a more conventional temperature-swing cycle, the isothermal, pressure-swing cycle offers the potential for greater efficiency because the need for solid state heat recovery is eliminated, although the demands on gas-phase heat recovery are increased. To date, isothermal, pressure-swing process has been demonstrated only using ceria. Here, we explore the behavior of perovskite-structured oxides as candidates for this cycle. In principle, fuel production capacity can be determined, a priori, from knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of a non-stoichiometric oxide. Accordingly, as a first step, the thermodynamics of various compositions of lanthanum strontium manganite oxides (LaxSr1-xMnO3) were modeled at high temperature from literature data [2]. The theoretical, equilibrium fuel production capacity at 1500°C is found, on the basis of this analysis, to exceed that of undoped ceria, by almost a factor of two (and more than a factor of three at 1400°C). Motivated by this result, samples of x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 were synthesized via solid state reaction and then experimentally evaluated for fuel productivity using in an in-house constructed thermochemical reactor. Cycling between Ar (with 10 ppm oxygen) and 20% steam (balance Ar) at 1500°C shows that indeed the series of materials offer higher fuel production capacity under conditions of long-cycle times. In addition, oxygen release rates are higher for the perovskites than they are for ceria, indicating that more fuel is produced for a given cycle with finite periods.

Energy consumption analysis for CO2 separation using imidazolium-based ionic liquids

CO2 solubility in ionic liquids has been measured extensively in order to develop ionic liquid-based technology for CO2 separation. However, the energy consumption analysis has not been investigated well for such technology. In order to carry out the energy consumption analysis for CO2 separation using ionic liquids based on available experimental data, in this work, the experimental data of the CO2 solubility in imidazolium-based ionic liquids at pressures below 10MPa was surveyed and evaluated by a semi-empirical thermodynamic model firstly. Based on the reliable experimental solubility data, the enthalpy of CO2 absorption was further calculated by the thermodynamic model. The results show that the CO2 absorption enthalpy in the studied ionic liquids is dominated by the enthalpy of CO2 dissolution and the contribution of excess enthalpy increases with increasing CO2 solubility in ionic liquids. The magnitude of the CO2 absorption enthalpy decreases with increasing chain length in cation and strongly depends on the anion of ionic liquids. Furthermore, the energy consumption for a CO2 separation process by pressure swing and/or temperature swing was investigated. For the pressure swing process, the Henry’s constant of CO2 in ionic liquids is an important factor for energy consumption analysis; If CO2 is absorbed at 298K and 1MPa and ionic liquid is regenerated by decreasing the pressure to 0.1MPa at the same temperature, among the studied ionic liquids, [emim][EtSO4] is the solvent with the lowest energy consumption of 9.840kJ/mol CO2. For the temperature swing process, the heat capacity of ionic liquids plays a more important role; If CO2 is absorbed at 298K and desorbed at 323K and 0.1MPa, [emim][PF6] is the solvent with the lowest energy demand of 888.9kJ/mol CO2. If the solvent is regenerated by releasing pressure and increasing temperature, both the Henry’s constant of CO2 in ionic liquids and the heat capacity of ionic liquids are important for analyzing the energy consumption; If CO2 is absorbed at 298K and 1MPa and ionic liquid is regenerated at 323K and 0.1MPa, [bmim][Tf2N] is the solvent with the lowest energy consumption of 57.71kJ/mol CO2.

Application of the piperazine-grafted CuBTTri metal-organic framework in postcombustion carbon dioxide capture

Post-synthetic modification of H3[(Cu4Cl)3(BTTri)8] or CuBTTri, where H3BTTri=1,3,5-tris(1H-1,2,3-triazol-5-yl)benzene, with piperazine (pip) has yielded the grafted framework H3[(Cu4Cl)3(BTTri)8(pip)12], pip-CuBTTri, which exhibits an improved CO2 uptake at pressures pertinent to postcombustion flue gas capture compared with the non-grafted material. In particular, the volumetric capacity of pip-CuBTTri was 2.5 times higher than that of CuBTTri at ca. 0.15bar and 293K. A chemisorption mechanism for CO2 adsorption was proposed on the basis of diffuse reflectance infrared spectra (DRIFTS) and the high initial isosteric heat of adsorption (−Qst, ≈96.5kJ/mol). Application of the Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory (IAST) to a simulated mixture of 0.15bar CO2/0.75bar N2 revealed a selectivity factor of 130. Both pressure and temperature swing processes were found to be suitable for facile regeneration of the material over multiple adsorption–desorption cycles.

Dynamic cyclic performance of phenol-formaldehyde resin-derived carbons for pre-combustion CO2 capture: An experimental study

This study focuses on how different regeneration conditions affect the performance of two phenol-formaldehyde resin-derived activated carbons for CO2 capture from a high pressure CO2/H2 gas stream, i.e., pre-combustion capture. Experimental work was conducted in a laboratory fixed-bed reactor where CO2 adsorption was performed at high pressure (15bar) and 45°C, and CO2 desorption was accomplished by reducing the pressure of the system to atmospheric (PSA process), or by coupling the pressure decrease with a rise in temperature (PTSA process). A commercial activated carbon (Calgon BPL) was used as a reference material for the separation process.Desorption under atmospheric pressure and heating favoured the CO2 capture rate, extract (CO2) purity and working capacity of all the adsorbents when compared to desorption under atmospheric pressure alone. However, a higher desorption temperature in the pressure and temperature swing process (150° versus 80°C), although it enhanced the capture rate and working capacity, it did not favour the product purity or it even penalised it. The phenol-formaldehyde resin-derived activated carbons proved to perform equal or better than the reference commercial one under almost all the different regeneration conditions studied.

Cyclic operation of a fixed-bed pressure and temperature swing process for CO2 capture: Experimental and statistical analysis

An adsorption process that effectively separates CO2 from high pressure CO2/H2 shift gas streams to meet the requirements of pre-combustion CO2 capture has been evaluated. A commercial activated carbon, Norit R2030CO2, was used as the adsorbent material and different batchwise regeneration conditions were investigated. Statistical analysis by means of response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to assess the combined effect of three independent variables, namely, desorption temperature (Tdes), desorption pressure (Pdes) and purge to feed ratio (P/F ratio) on the adsorbent performance. A bench-scale fixed-bed reactor enabled the simulation of the adsorption, heating and depressurization steps of a pressure and temperature swing adsorption-based process. Experimental data were then assessed by the statistical technique and a set of mathematical equations that describes the behaviour of the given set of data were generated. No interaction effects between the independent variables on the responses were found. P/F ratio was found to be the most influential variable on working adsorption capacity, CO2 recovery, adsorbent productivity and H2 and CO2 purities. The maximum CO2 purity was obtained at 60°C, 5bar and a P/F ratio of 0.05. On the other hand, desorption temperature had the largest impact on the maximum rate of desorption.