Effects of water vapour on CO2 capture with vacuum swing adsorption using activated carbon

Abstract

The capture of CO2 with adsorption processes is greatly complicated by the presence of high water levels in most process and flue gas streams. One option is to use activated carbon of appropriate hydrophobicity. The interaction of water and CO2 on carbon materials in VSA processes is therefore of great interest and it is this feature which the current study addresses.The adsorption equilibrium isotherms of H2O, CO2 and N2 on activated carbon (coconut shell Acticarb GC1200) were measured over the range 25-60°C and 0-1bar. The Type V isotherm exhibited by water required a non-Langmuir type representation. In this case, Rutherford's extended CMMS model was employed to describe water adsorption...