Title: Parametric effect of adsorption variables on CO2 adsorption of amine-grafted polyaspartamide composite adsorbent during post-combustion CO2 capture: a response surface methodology approach

Authors: Tafara L. Chitsiga; Michael Olawale Daramola; Nicola Wagner; Jacob Masiala Ngoy

Addresses: School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa ' School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa ' Department of Geology, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, South Africa ' Clean Coal Research Group, School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract: In this study, effect of operating variables (e.g., temperature, flue gas flow rate and pressure) on the CO2 adsorption capacity of an amine-grafted polymer composite adsorbent, PAA, was investigated using a statistical approach (response surface methodology). A set of 25 experiments were designed using the central composite design (CCD) and six regression models were proposed to describe the behaviour of the materials for CO2 capture under the influence of the operating variables considered in this study. The best model that adequately described the behaviour of the material displayed a mean error, a variance and a p-value of −2.6375 × 10−12, 29 and 0.0006, respectively, indicating the statistical significance of the model to describe the behaviour of the material during CO2 adsorption. In addition, results of the cross-validation of the model showed an error of about 5%, strengthening further the validity of the model. Under the main and interaction effects of the considered variables, a maximum amount of CO2 adsorbed was approximately 45 mg CO2/g adsorbent at a gas flowrate of 60 ml/min, a temperature of about 40°C, and at a pressure of 1.6 bar. [Received: October 5, 2016; Accepted: March 30, 2017]

Keywords: polyaspartamide; CO2 capture; adsorption; post-combustion CO2 capture; flue gas; coal-fired power plants; climate change.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2018.090149

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2018 Vol.17 No.3, pp.321 - 336

Received: 05 Oct 2016
Accepted: 30 Mar 2017

Published online: 01 Mar 2018 *

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