Mathematical modeling and numerical investigation of carbon capture by adsorption: Literature review and case study

Abstract The carbon capture by adsorption (CCA) is regarded as an available engineering technology because of its low energy-consumption, easy to control, and possible integration with renewable energy. The recent advances in CCA research comprises mainly about the performance improvement of adsorbents, design and optimization of engineering process. However, considering the time-consuming and intensive funding required for experimental investigation, the numerical simulation has been widely applied in CCA. In numerical simulation field of CCA, the adsorption process is commonly simplified into mathematical models group comprised of adsorption kinetics model, the adsorption equilibrium model, pressure drop model and heat transfer model. However, few studies’ focus is to provide a detailed review of the research methodology of mathematical modeling in CCA simulation. This paper presents a pathway map on CCA mathematical modeling through literature review and case study. An overview of model screening and modeling method of CCA is provided in the review part. This part also provides a short guided tour on how to combine the fundamental models about heat and mass transfer together to form a model group for various application scenarios in CCA. Then the pathway map on CCA modeling, which is summarized based on the review, is applied to a case study. In this part, the adsorption of CO2/N2 mixtures on activated carbon under the conditions of high temperature and low pressure is numerically investigated based on the established models. The performance indicators comprise gas temperature, mole fraction, and adsorbate amount of the fixed bed, are applied in the evaluation performance of CCA. Based on the proposed methodology, the CCA modeling demonstrates a more fluent design process relative to the real physical scenario, with a possible access to further optimization. Particularly, the simulation results showed that the optimized dimensionless velocity for the highest utilization efficiency of the fixed bed can be obtained and thus is proposed as 1.2–1.4 for the most suitable feed velocity to fit different size of fixed bed and different types of adsorbents for the engineering design.

[1]  J. Mitchell,et al.  A study of heatless adsorption in the model system CO2 in He, I , 1972 .

[2]  María A. Uguina,et al.  Fixed-bed adsorption of carbon dioxide–helium, nitrogen–helium and carbon dioxide–nitrogen mixtures onto silicalite pellets , 2006 .

[3]  Lourdes F. Vega,et al.  Systematic evaluation of materials for post-combustion CO2 capture in a Temperature Swing Adsorption process , 2016 .

[4]  Stephen E. Zitney,et al.  A Superstructure-Based Optimal Synthesis of PSA Cycles for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture , 2009 .

[5]  Rached Ben-Mansour,et al.  An efficient temperature swing adsorption (TSA) process for separating CO 2 from CO 2 /N 2 mixture using Mg-MOF-74 , 2018 .

[6]  R. T. Yang,et al.  Gas separation by pressure swing adsorption: A pore‐diffusion model for bulk separation , 1985 .

[7]  M. A. Latifi,et al.  Parameters estimability analysis and identification for adsorption equilibrium models of carbon dioxide , 2017, Adsorption.

[8]  Weina Sun,et al.  Experiment and simulation for separating CO2/N2 by dual-reflux pressure swing adsorption process , 2016 .

[9]  Carlos A. Grande,et al.  Upgrade of Methane from Landfill Gas by Pressure Swing Adsorption , 2005 .

[10]  R. T. Yang,et al.  Bulk separation of multicomponent gas mixtures by pressure swing adsorption: Pore/surface diffusion and equilibrium models , 1985 .

[11]  Kun Yang,et al.  Adsorption behaviors of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on porous clay heterostructures (PCH). , 2009, Journal of hazardous materials.

[12]  Donghui Zhang,et al.  CO2 capture from dry flue gas by pressure vacuum swing adsorption: A systematic simulation and optimization , 2016 .

[13]  D. Do,et al.  Adsorption analysis : equilibria and kinetics , 1998 .

[14]  Ravi Kumar Adsorption column blowdown: adiabatic equilibrium model for bulk binary gas mixtures , 1989 .

[15]  Lu Lv,et al.  Critical review in adsorption kinetic models , 2009 .

[16]  Ralph T. Yang,et al.  Separation of a Five-Component Gas Mixture by Pressure Swing Adsorption , 1985 .

[17]  Richard F. Sincovec,et al.  Algorithm 540: PDECOL, General Collocation Software for Partial Differential Equations [D3] , 1979, TOMS.

[18]  Armin D. Ebner,et al.  State-of-the-art Adsorption and Membrane Separation Processes for Carbon Dioxide Production from Carbon Dioxide Emitting Industries , 2009 .

[19]  Bidyut Baran Saha,et al.  Carbon Dioxide Adsorption Isotherms on Activated Carbons , 2011 .

[20]  Adrien Gomez,et al.  Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactors for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture: A Scale-Up Study from Laboratory to Pilot Plant , 2014 .

[21]  Won Kook Lee,et al.  The Adsorption and Desorption Breakthrough Behavior of Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide on Activated Carbon. Effect of Total Pressure and Pressure-Dependent Mass Transfer Coefficients , 1994 .

[22]  Pradip Dutta,et al.  A method for the calculation of the adsorbed phase volume and pseudo-saturation pressure from adsorption isotherm data on activated carbon. , 2011, Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP.

[23]  E. Anil Kumar,et al.  Measurement and analysis of adsorption isotherms of CO2 on activated carbon , 2016 .

[24]  Rached Ben-Mansour,et al.  Energy and productivity efficient vacuum pressure swing adsorption process to separate CO2 from CO2/N2 mixture using Mg-MOF-74: A CFD simulation , 2018 .

[25]  Aldo Steinfeld,et al.  Separation of CO2 from air by temperature-vacuum swing adsorption using diamine-functionalized silica gel , 2011 .

[26]  Jitong Wang,et al.  Adsorption and regeneration study of polyethylenimine-impregnated millimeter-sized mesoporous carbon spheres for post-combustion CO2 capture , 2016 .

[27]  Herbert T. Schaef,et al.  Adsorption, separation, and catalytic properties of densified metal-organic frameworks , 2016 .

[28]  Regina de Fátima Peralta Muniz Moreira,et al.  Carbon dioxide–nitrogen separation through adsorption on activated carbon in a fixed bed , 2011 .

[29]  Y. X. Huang,et al.  Using 13X, LiX, and LiPdAgX zeolites for CO2 capture from post-combustion flue gas , 2017 .

[30]  vinod k. singh,et al.  Experimental investigation and thermodynamic analysis of CO2 adsorption on activated carbons for cooling system , 2017 .

[31]  Mohammad Amanullah,et al.  CO2 capture from dry flue gas by vacuum swing adsorption: A pilot plant study , 2014 .

[32]  R. Ben-Mansour,et al.  Multicomponent and multi-dimensional modeling and simulation of adsorption-based carbon dioxide separation , 2017, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[33]  Li Zhang,et al.  Numerical Simulation of CO2 Adsorption on K-Based Sorbent , 2016 .

[34]  R. B. Jackson,et al.  CO 2 emissions from forest loss , 2009 .

[35]  Mehdi Mehrpooya,et al.  Modeling and optimization of currently in operation natural gas desulfurization process using adsorption separation method , 2017 .

[36]  S. Solomon,et al.  Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[37]  Rama Rao Vemula,et al.  Comparative performance of an adiabatic and a nonadiabatic PSA process for bulk gas separation—a numerical simulation , 2017 .

[38]  Motonobu Goto,et al.  Numerical analysis of a dual refluxed PSA process during simultaneous removal and concentration of carbon dioxide dilute gas from air , 1996 .

[39]  Thomas W. Weber,et al.  Pore and solid diffusion models for fixed-bed adsorbers , 1974 .

[40]  Joan E. Shields,et al.  Characterization of Porous Solids and Powders: Surface Area, Pore Size and Density , 2006 .

[41]  Jeffrey Raymond Hufton,et al.  Why Does the Linear Driving Force Model for Adsorption Kinetics Work? , 2000 .

[42]  Stefano Brandani,et al.  Adsorption Kinetics and Dynamic Behavior of a Carbon Monolith , 2004 .

[43]  Regina de Fátima Peralta Muniz Moreira,et al.  Modeling of the fixed - bed adsorption of carbon dioxide and a carbon dioxide - nitrogen mixture on zeolite 13X , 2011 .

[44]  Kechang Xie,et al.  Adsorption of Carbon Dioxide on Activated Carbon , 2006 .

[45]  Cheng-Tung Chou,et al.  Carbon dioxide recovery by vacuum swing adsorption , 2004 .

[46]  Jules Thibault,et al.  Fixed bed adsorption for the removal of carbon dioxide from nitrogen: Breakthrough behaviour and modelling for heat and mass transfer , 2012 .

[47]  Rached Ben-Mansour,et al.  Carbon capture by physical adsorption: Materials, experimental investigations and numerical modeling and simulations – A review , 2016 .

[48]  Alírio E. Rodrigues,et al.  Adsorption Equilibrium of Methane, Carbon Dioxide, and Nitrogen on Zeolite 13X at High Pressures , 2004 .

[49]  J. Toth,et al.  State Equation of the Solid-Gas Interface Layers , 1971 .

[50]  K. Chao,et al.  Kinetics of fixed‐bed adsorption: A new solution , 1979 .

[51]  E. Glueckauf,et al.  Theory of chromatography. Part 10.—Formulæ for diffusion into spheres and their application to chromatography , 1955 .

[52]  Pradip Dutta,et al.  Calculation of Heat of Adsorption of Gases and Refrigerants on Activated Carbons from Direct Measurements Fitted to the Dubinin–Astakhov Equation , 2012 .

[53]  Wei Ping Numerical simulation of vacuum pressure swing adsorption for biogas upgrading , 2013 .

[54]  Paul A. Webley,et al.  Structured adsorbents in gas separation processes , 2010 .

[55]  Maryam Takht Ravanchi,et al.  Carbon dioxide sequestration in petrochemical industries with the aim of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions , 2011 .

[56]  Jun Zhang,et al.  Capture of CO2 from flue gas streams with zeolite 13X by vacuum-pressure swing adsorption , 2008 .

[57]  Jun Zhang,et al.  CO2 capture by adsorption: Materials and process development , 2007 .

[58]  Jinyue Yan,et al.  Adsorbents for the post-combustion capture of CO2 using rapid temperature swing or vacuum swing adsorption , 2013 .

[59]  I. Langmuir THE ADSORPTION OF GASES ON PLANE SURFACES OF GLASS, MICA AND PLATINUM. , 1918 .

[60]  Ruzhu Wang,et al.  Theoretical and experimental investigation of a closed sorption thermal storage prototype using LiCl/water , 2015 .

[61]  Bidyut Baran Saha,et al.  Study on adsorption of methanol onto carbon based adsorbents , 2009 .

[62]  Y. Ogino,et al.  Physical adsorption of gases at high pressure. IV. An improvement of the Dubinin—Astakhov adsorption equation , 1976 .

[63]  Wan Mohd Ashri Wan Daud,et al.  Modeling of Carbon Dioxide Adsorption onto Ammonia-Modified Activated Carbon: Kinetic Analysis and Breakthrough Behavior , 2015 .

[64]  Douglas M. Ruthven,et al.  Numerical simulation of a PSA system. Part I: Isothermal trace component system with linear equilibrium and finite mass transfer resistance , 1985 .

[65]  M. Dubinin,et al.  Physical Adsorption of Gases and Vapors in Micropores , 1975 .

[66]  Chang-Ha Lee,et al.  Effects of carbon‐to‐zeolite ratio on layered bed H2 PSA for coke oven gas , 1999 .

[67]  Shamsuzzaman Farooq,et al.  Kinetics of hydrocarbon adsorption on activated carbon and silica gel , 1997 .

[68]  Chungsying Lu,et al.  CO2 capture from gas stream by zeolite 13X using a dual-column temperature/vacuum swing adsorption , 2012 .

[69]  M. Polanyi The Potential Theory of Adsorption. , 1963, Science.

[70]  Won Kook Lee,et al.  Fixed-bed adsorption for bulk component system. Non-equilibrium, non-isothermal and non-adiabatic model , 1995 .