(376d) Polymer-Based Structuring of Metal-Organic Framework Adsorbents for CO2 Capture at Industrial Scale

CO₂ capture has received significant attention to mitigate global warming and climate change caused by the rapid rise in atmospheric concentrations of CO₂. Although liquid amine-based absorption is the benchmark technique for CO₂ capture, it has the drawbacks of high energy requirements for solvent regeneration, equipment corrosion, kinetic limitations, etc. CO₂ adsorption has attracted attention as an alternative to alleviate these challenges. In this regard, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising materials for CO₂ capture owing to their large surface area and pore volume as well as tunable porosity and surface chemistry, enabling tuning of the CO₂ capture performance [1,2]. However, MOFs are produced in powder form, which limits their industrial potential due to the processing issues of powders, such as dustiness, poor reusability, challenges in handling and transportation, and pressure drop. Therefore, structuring MOF powders while maintaining the intrinsic properties of the MOF crystals is vital for the industrial application of these materials.

In this context, we report a novel, simple strategy for the structuring of MOFs into mechanically robust spherical beads exhibiting hierarchical porosity and a high MOF loading (up to 80%) using a highly porous polymeric matrix (PPM). ZIF-8, UiO-66, MIL-101, and a hybrid of MIL-101 with graphene oxide (GO), which was prepared to enhance the CO₂ adsorption capacity of MIL-101, were chosen for this study due to the stability of these materials in water vapor, which is ubiquitous in flue gas mixtures. The fabricated MOF beads preserved the porosity characteristics and CO₂ adsorption capacity of the original MOF crystals (Fig. 1) and showed stable cyclic adsorption performance.

Acknowledgment

Financial support by Khalifa University through the CIRA2020-093 project is greatly acknowledged.

References

[1] Gebremariam, S. K.; Dumée, L. F.; Llewellyn, P. L.; AlWahedi, Y. F.; Karanikolos, G. N., Metal-Organic Framework Hybrid Adsorbents for Carbon Capture–A Review. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 2023, 109291.

[2] Varghese, A. M., Reddy, K. S. K., Bhoria, N., Singh, S., Pokhrel, J., & Karanikolos, G. N. (2021). Enhancing effect of UV activation of graphene oxide on carbon capture performance of metal-organic framework/graphene oxide hybrid adsorbents. Chemical Engineering Journal, 420, 129677.