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Exploring steam stability of mesoporous alumina species for improved carbon dioxide sorbent design

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Abstract

Many different metrics exist to assess the efficacy of a carbon capture sorbent, though one of the pivotal characteristics is stability on regeneration, most notably steam stability, which applies to steam stripping regeneration, a technique proposed for capture of CO2 from humid flue gas. In this study, the steam stability of two different mesoporous alumina species is compared, with an aim to tune the synthesis methodology and the local structure and crystallinity of the samples to create a stable regenerable sorbent. The roles of calcination temperature and aminopolymer impregnation on sorbent stability and structure are also investigated using a wide range of characterization techniques to specifically probe the influence of the alumina support. We show through this study that support choice, and support stability, can play an important role in sorbent design for carbon capture. We highlight that regular crystallinity (such as in γ-alumina) hinders the formation of pseudo-boehmite, allowing a material to retain its CO2 uptake. Further, we show that the addition of aminopolymers (PEI) can facilitate phase changes, however aminopolymers help maintain the mesoporosity of the sample, a key metric for CO2 uptake.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Center for Understanding and Control of Acid Gas-Induced Evolution of Materials for Energy (UNCAGE-ME), an Energy Frontier Research Center, funded by US Department of Energy (US DoE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES) under Award DE-SC0012577.

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  1. Matthew E. Potter

    Present address: Department of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hants, SO17 1BJ, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Matthew E. Potter, Jason J. Lee, Lalit A. Darunte & Christopher W. Jones

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  1. Matthew E. Potter
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Correspondence to Christopher W. Jones.

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Potter, M.E., Lee, J.J., Darunte, L.A. et al. Exploring steam stability of mesoporous alumina species for improved carbon dioxide sorbent design. J Mater Sci 54, 7563–7575 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03418-7

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