Characterization of Sodium Oxide Impregnated Alumina as a CO2 Adsorbent
Authors:
Sevana Baghdasarian, Yen-Po Lin, Joshua ObidahMentors:
- Mingheng Li, Associate Professor, California State Polytechnic University Pomona
- Winny Dong, Professor, California State Polytechnic University Pomona
CO2 adsorption on solid adsorbents is an important technique in the context of greenhouse gas capture as well as adsorption enhanced reaction processes. This work focuses on CO2 adsorption and desorption on sodium oxide promoted alumina pellets. A thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) was used to measure the weight change of a sodium oxide impregnated alumina particle under controlled conditions including temperature and CO2 partial pressure. A mathematical model was developed to describe the kinetics and equilibrium of CO2 adsorption. To test its performance under more realistic conditions, multiple cycles of CO2 adsorption and desorption were studied in a reactor packed with about 200 grams of sodium oxide promoted alumina pellets. The adsorption capacity and isotherm were derived from breakthrough curves and compared with TGA measurements. It appeared that CO2 adsorption on sodium oxide promoted alumina followed physisorption mechanism at low temperatures and chemisorption mechanism at high temperatures.