(331f) Carbon Dioxide Capture From Flue Gas by High Feed Throughput Pressure Swing Adsorption Processes

A number of research groups from around the world have been developing PSA cycles for capturing CO₂ from flue gas by pressure swing adsorption (PSA). All of the published results so far suffer from low CO₂ purity, low CO₂ recovery, or low feed throughput.  In other words, the PSA cycles either do not meet the US DOE CO₂ purity and recovery constraints, or the beds are so large that the capitol costs become prohibitive. It is submitted here that this was largely due to inefficient PSA cycle designs.

The objective of this presentation is to show that it is indeed possible to develop a high feed throughput PSA cycle that meets the US DOE constraints on CO₂ purity and recovery. In fact, a number of attractive PSA cycles have been developed that appear to be economical from both operating and capital costs. These PSA cycles utilize a commercial adsorbent and a unique process flow sheet that obviates the need to process water vapor through the PSA columns. An important, unanswered question is: what is the maximum feed throughput that can be achieved while meeting the US DOE constraints? In an attempt to answer this question, the latest results from Ritter and his group will be presented.