We have recently employed additive manufacturing technique to formulate various types of solid adsorbents into monolithic contactors for use in CO2 capture processes. First, 3D-printed zeolite monoliths (Fig 1) were fabricated and their physical and structural properties were evaluated and compared with their powder counterparts. Our results indicated that 3D-printed monoliths with zeolite loading as high as 90 wt% exhibit comparable adsorption uptake to powder sorbents. The dynamic CO2/N2 breakthrough experiments showed relatively fast dynamics for monolithic structures. In addition, the printed zeolite monoliths exhibited reasonably good mechanical integrity that can eventually prevent attrition and dusting issues commonly encountered in traditional pellets and beads packing systems. Second, our recent work on the fabrication and evaluation of 3D-printed aminosilica adsorbents indicated that aminosilica materials retain their structural, physical, and chemical properties in the monoliths. Third, in addition to zeolites and aminosilica adsorbents, we also formulated metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) into 3D-printed monolithic contactors. The MOF monoliths were developed by either pre-synthesized MOF powders or in-situ crystal growth within the monolith. For MOF-74 and UTSA-16, monoliths with MOF loadings as high as 90 wt% were printed. The obtained monoliths exhibited &gt;807% of the CO2 capacity of their MOF analogues with a stable performance and good adsorption kinetics. The 3D printing technique offers an alternative cost-effective and facile approach to fabricate structured adsorbents with tunable structural, chemical and mechanical properties for use in gas separation processes. This work highlights the importance of adsorbent materials formulations into practical contactors such as monoliths, as the scalabale technology platform, that could enable rapid deployment of adsorption-based CO2 capture processes on commercial scales.

Formulation of CO2 solid adsorbents into practical contactors using 3D printing technique

2019 Spring National Meeting

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