Adsorption of CO2-containing gas mixtures over amine-bearing pore-expanded MCM-41 silica: application for CO2 separation

Adsorption of CO2, N-2, CH4 and H-2 on triamine-grafted pore-expanded MCM-41 mesoporous silica (TRI-PE-MCM-41) was investigated at room temperature in a wide range of pressure (up to 25 bar) using gravimetric measurements. The material was found to exhibit high affinity toward CO2 in comparison to the other species over the whole range of pressure. Column-breakthrough dynamic measurements of CO2-containing mixtures showed very high selectivity toward CO2 over N-2, CH4 and H-2 at CO2 concentrations within the range of 5 to 50%. These conditions are suitable for effective removal of CO2 at room temperature from syngas, flue gas and biogas using temperature swing (TS) or temperature-pressure swing (TPS) regeneration mode. Moreover, TRI-PE-MCM-41 was found to be highly stable over hundreds of adsorption-desorption cycles using TPS as regeneration mode.