MICRO-SCALE CONTINUOUS CO2 ADSORPTION COLUMN DESIGN WITH ZEOLITE 5A ADSORBENT

Abstract

CO₂ is the primary greenhouse gas which mainly stems from human activities. Increased CO₂ emission in the atmosphere promotes global warming, which adversely affects human health and the environment. Adsorption is proposed as one of the practical and economical methods for CO₂ removal. Zeolite 5A is an adsorbent that can be employed in CO₂ adsorption due to its high porosity and adsorption capacity. In this study, we investigate the CO₂ adsorption behavior by zeolite 5A adsorbent in a continuous, micro-scale fixed-bed column at different bed heights. Gas chromatography was utilized to determine CO₂ exit concentrations. The column pressure drop was calculated using Ergun's equation. The obtained data were analyzed in the form of breakthrough curves, then fitted to Thomas and Yoon-Nelson's mathematical model to obtain adsorption rate coefficient in the column. The experimental data of CO₂ adsorption by zeolite 5A shows the good correspondence with both Thomas’s and Yoon-Nelson’s mathematical models. At a flow rate of 30 mL/min and bed height variations of 10 and 12 cm, the CO₂ adsorption capacities (q₀) were 0.0071 and 0.0099 mol/g, respectively. While the Thomas’s adsorption rate coefficient, k_TH, for the same conditions were 0.4164 min^-1 and 0.4342 min^-1.