Flue gas and pure CO2 sorption properties of coal: A comparative study

Abstract Presently many research projects focus on the reduction of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. It is intended to apply underground storage techniques such as flue gas injection in unminable coal seams. In this context, an experimental study has been performed on the adsorption of pure CO2 and preferential sorption behavior of flue gas. A coal sample from the Silesian Basin in Poland (0.68% V Rr), measured in the dry and wet state at 353 K has been chosen for this approach. The flue gas used was a custom class industrial flue gas with 10.9% of CO2, 0.01% of CO, 9% of H2, 3.01% of CH4, 3.0% of O2, 0.106% of SO2 and nitrogen as balance. Adsorption isotherms of CO2 and flue gas were measured upto a maximum of 11 MPa using a volumetric method. Total excess sorption capacities for CO2 on dry and wet Silesia coal ranged between 1.9 and 1.3 mmol/g, respectively. Flue gas sorption capacities on dry and wet Silesia coal were much lower and ranged between 0.45 and 0.2 mmol/g, respectively, at pressures of 8 MPa. The low sorption capacity of wet coal has resulted from water occupying some of the more active adsorption sites and hence reducing the heterogeneity of adsorption sites relative to that of dry coal. Desorption tests with flue gas were conducted to study the degree of preferential sorption of the individual components. These experiments indicate that CO2 is by far the prefered sorbing component under both wet and dry conditions. This is followed by CH4. N2 adsorbs very little on the coal in the presence of CO2 and CH4. It is also observed that the adsorption of CO2 onto coal is not significantly hindered by the addition of other gases, other than dilution effect of the pressure. In addition to the sorption experiments, the density of the flue gas mixture has been determined up to 18 MPa at 318 K. A very good precision of these measurements were documented by volumetric methods.