Activated Carbon Produced from the Hydrothermal Treatment of Glucose with KOH Activation for Catalytic Absorption of CO2 in a BEA-AMP Bi-Solvent Blend

Foster Amoateng Appiah; Dzifa Nugloze; Lois Sandra Sai-Obodai; Paweesuda Natewong; Raphael O Idem

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c07758

Activated Carbon Produced from the Hydrothermal Treatment of Glucose with KOH Activation for Catalytic Absorption of CO₂ in a BEA-AMP Bi-Solvent Blend

ACS Omega. 2023 Feb 28;8(10):9346-9355. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c07758. eCollection 2023 Mar 14.

Authors

Foster Amoateng Appiah¹, Dzifa Nugloze¹, Lois Sandra Sai-Obodai¹, Paweesuda Natewong¹, Raphael O Idem¹

Affiliation

¹ Clean Energy Technology Research Institute (CETRI), Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, Saskatchewan S4S 0A2, Canada.

Abstract

The amine-based postcombustion CO₂ capture (PCC) process involves absorption of CO₂ into a solvent and then regenerating the solvent to produce CO₂. In this study, the effect of an activated carbon (AC) catalyst, synthesized through hydrothermal treatment and furnace activation on CO₂ absorption in a 4M BEA/AMP amine blend, was evaluated and compared with that of a KMgO/CNTs (1:4) catalyst. The physical and chemical properties of AC were investigated with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), CO₂ temperature-programmed desorption (CO₂-TPD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and compared with the KMgO/CNTs (1:4) catalyst. The results showed that when compared against noncatalytic CO₂ absorption, AC enhanced the linear rate of CO₂ absorption by 33.3%, while for KMgO/CNTs, it was reported as 25.5%. The relatively higher surface area, combined with the higher number and strength of basic sites of AC relative to the KMgO/CNTs (1:4) catalyst, provided effective basic reaction sites for CO₂ absorption, thereby enhancing the rate of CO₂ absorption into the amine. AC was also relatively easier to synthesize which would provide a good replacement for the CNT-based catalyst which has carcinogenic tendencies.