Continuous adsorption process of CO2/N2/H2O from CH4 flow using type A zeolite adsorbents in the presence of ultrasonic waves

Abstract

In this study, the adsorption capacity of different types of zeolite (3A, 4A, and 5A) for adsorbing CO2 from a mixture of CH4, N2, and water vapor was investigated with and without the use of ultrasonic waves. In this study, functional groups of O–H, Si–O–Al and Si–O–Si bands were identified in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy of these adsorbents. X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) for zeolite 3A and 5A showed the structure of chabazite and for zeolite 4A the structure of sodalite. In the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) test, the specific surface area of zeolites was measured as 16, 11.96 and 437 m2g−1, respectively. Ultrasonic waves increased the adsorption capacity of zeolites to adsorb CO2 at lower temperatures 80.64 to 175.44 mgg−1. Zeolite 5A has a higher affinity for CO2 than CH4 or N2, the selectivity of CO2/ N2 and CO2/ CH4 were 19.55 and 24.17, respectively. Data from adsorption experiments were used to learn an artificial neural network (ANN), and the ANN provided acceptable results for predicting the adsorption process.

Keywords

• CO2adsorption
• CH4
• Freundlich
• Zeolite A type
• N2
• Humidity