(92b) A Method to Remove Carbon Dioxide through Adsorption/Desorption to Reduce the Greenhouse Effect

In the effort to reduce the Greenhouse Effect, adsorbing greenhouse gases from industrial effluent has become vital. The primary contributor to the Greenhouse Effect is carbon dioxide and will be the focus of this paper. The ability of Zeolite 13X to adsorb carbon dioxide was determined using a simple flow through system. The influent gas stream simulated an industrial flue gas with approximately 15,000 ppmV of carbon dioxide at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The adsorbent bed was six inches in length and one inch in diameter, packed with 10 grams of Zeolite 13X. Thermal and pressure swings were employed as regeneration methods through heating to approximately 200 oC under vacuum with helium as the purge gas. A breakthrough limit was set at 90% of the influent concentration. The mass of carbon dioxide adsorbed to Zeolite 13X to the total mass that passed through the system was 62%, defined as the breakthrough ratio. The breakthrough capacity was found to be 72gCO2/kgZeolite13X. As expected, the rate of desorption increased with an increase in the bed temperature.