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Pressure swing adsorption for CO2 capture in Fischer-Tropsch fuels production from biomass

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Abstract

Environmental concerns and oil price rises and dependency promoted strong research in alternative fuel sources and vectors. Fischer-Tropsch products are considered a valid alternative to oil derivatives having the advantage of being able to share current infrastructures. As a renewable source of energy, synthesis gas obtained from biomass gasification presents itself as a sustainable alternative. However, prior to hydrocarbon conversion, the bio-syngas must be conditioned, which includes the removal of carbon dioxide for subsequent sequestration and capture. A pressure swing adsorption cycle was developed for the removal and concentration of CO2 from the bio-syngas stream. Activated carbon was chosen as adsorbent. The simulation results showed that it was possible to produce a (H2 + CO) product with a H2/CO stoichiometric ratio of 2.14 (suitable as feed stream for the Fischer-Tropsch reactor) and a CO2 product with a purity of 95.18%. A CO2 recovery of 90.3% was obtained. A power consumption of 3.36 MW was achieved, which represents a reduction of about 28% when compared to a Rectisol process with the same recovery.

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Abbreviations

a p :

particle specific area (m−1)

A :

virial coefficients (m2 mol−1)

B :

virial coefficients (m4 mol−2)

Bi i :

mass Biot number of component i, \((\mathit{Bi}_{i}=\frac{a_{p}k_{f}R_{p}^{2}}{\varepsilon _{p}8D_{p,i}})\) (–)

C g,i :

gas phase concentration of component i (mol m−3)

C g,T :

total gas phase concentration (mol m−3)

C p :

gas mixture molar specific heat at constant pressure (J mol−1 K−1)

\(\overline{C_{p,i}}\) :

average concentration of component i in the macropores (mol m−3)

\(\hat{C}_{ps}\) :

particle specific heat at constant pressure (per mass unit) (J kg−1 K−1)

\(\overline{C_{p,T}}\) :

average total concentration in the macropores (mol m−3)

\(\hat{C}_{pw}\) :

wall specific heat at constant pressure (per mass unit) (J kg−1 K−1)

C v :

gas mixture molar specific heat at constant volume (J mol−1 K−1)

C v,ads,i :

molar specific heat of component i in the adsorbed phase at constant volume (J mol−1 K−1)

C v,i :

molar specific heat of component i at constant volume (J mol−1 K−1)

d p :

adsorbent particle diameter (m)

d wi :

internal bed diameter (m)

D ax :

axial dispersion coefficient (m2 s−1)

D c,i :

micropore diffusivity of component i (m2 s−1)

D p,i :

macropore diffusivity of component i (m2 s−1)

h f :

film heat transfer coefficient between the gas and particle (J s−1 m−2 K−1 )

h w :

film heat transfer coefficient between the gas and wall (J s−1 m−2 K−1 )

k f :

film mass transfer coefficient (m s−1)

K ∞ :

adsorption constant at infinite temperature (mol kg−1 bar−1)

K H :

Henry constant (mol kg−1 bar−1)

P :

pressure (Pa)

\(\overline{q_{i}}\) :

average adsorbed phase concentration of component i (mol kg−1)

\(q_{i}^{*}\) :

adsorbed concentration of component i in equilibrium with \(\overline{C_{p,i}}\) (mol kg−1)

r c :

“microparticle” radius (m)

R g :

ideal gas constant (J mol−1 K−1)

R p :

adsorbent particle radius (m)

t :

time (s)

T g :

bulk phase temperature (K)

T p :

solid temperature (K)

T w :

wall temperature (K)

u 0 :

superficial velocity (m s−1)

y i :

gas phase molar fraction of component i (–)

z :

axial position (m)

α w :

ratio of the internal surface area to the volume of the column wall (m−1)

(ΔH ads) i :

heat of adsorption of component i (J mol−1)

ε :

bed porosity (–)

ε p :

particle porosity (–)

λ :

heat axial dispersion coefficient (J s−1 m−1 K−1)

μ :

bulk gas mixture viscosity (kg m−1 s−1)

ρ :

bulk gas mixture density (kg m−3)

ρ b :

bed density (kg m−3)

ρ p :

particle density (kg m−3)

ρ w :

wall density (kg m−3)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering (LSRE), Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Ana M. Ribeiro, João C. Santos & Alírio E. Rodrigues

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  1. Ana M. Ribeiro
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  2. João C. Santos
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  3. Alírio E. Rodrigues
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Correspondence to Alírio E. Rodrigues.

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Ribeiro, A.M., Santos, J.C. & Rodrigues, A.E. Pressure swing adsorption for CO2 capture in Fischer-Tropsch fuels production from biomass. Adsorption 17, 443–452 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-010-9280-8

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