Low-cost materials can be used for CO2 capture
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Researchers at a technology research institute in the United States have recently developed a low-cost material that can be used to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the flue gases of coal-fired power plants and other sources of greenhouse gases. This new material is produced through a simple one-step chemical process; it has a high capacity for adsorbing CO2 and can be reused multiple times. This new material, named hyperbranched alumina silica (HAS), possesses high adsorption capacity, is easy to synthesize, has low costs, and can be recycled; it is expected to be used on an industrial scale as an adsorbent. The research findings will be published in this month’s issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. This research was supported by the **Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Using solid adsorbents for the capture of CO2 after combustion in power plants is a promising area of research. Solid adsorbents have a high adsorption capacity, which allows for reduced energy consumption and smaller equipment sizes; moreover, they prevent the corrosion of equipment caused by liquid adsorbents (mainly MEA, MDEA, etc.). However, solid adsorption presents technical challenges in terms of mass transfer and heat transfer that need to be addressed.
Solid adsorbents currently face issues such as high costs and difficulties in industrial synthesis.