RAPID

This project will utilize microfibrous entrapment of small particulate sorbents or ion exchange (IX) resins to overcome physical barriers and identified technology gaps that currently prevent energy efficient and cost-effective wellhead CO2/CH4 separations through pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and Cs+ removal from nuclear fuel processing streams. Both commercial cyclic adsorption processes are currently limited by heat and mass transport restrictions occurring in large particle (1-4 mm diameter) packed beds. In this project, the use of smaller particles (10-150 μm diameter) eliminates previous intraparticle mass transport restrictions resulting in effectiveness factors near unity, while particulate entrapment within sinter-locked networks of micron-diameter metal fibers (microfibrous entrapped sorbent, MFES) provides packed bed thermal conductivities that are up to 250-fold higher than those of typical packed beds. Higher thermal conductivity allows for near-isothermal operation and results in more rapid and higher duty cycles, which reduces the required sorbent load and increases the overall output of the now smaller unit. The entrapment of particulates within a flexible fibrous structure eliminates shrink/swell problems and bed channeling while maintaining a low pressure drop. For IX processes, the reduction in particle size provides an order of magnitude enhancement in IX kinetics and allows new IX resin powders to be quickly adopted without having to undergo the lengthy, expensive, performance-limiting penalties associated with large bead formulations. For both applications, the process intensification and enhancement of fundamental rate phenomena decreases system size, increases energy efficiency, decreases cost, and promotes efficacy and modularity. This methodology is a transformative platform approach that is inherently modular and broadly applicable across a wide range of catalytic or sorbent-based processes.