Rapid Cycle Temperature Swing Adsorption Process Using Solid Structured Sorbent for CO2 capture from Cement Flue Gas

Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in the world. The production process of cement, a key component of concrete, contributes significantly to CO2 emissions. Every year, over 4 billion tonnes of cement are produced, releasing approximately 7%-8% of global CO2 emissions [1]. Cement flue gas, processes and raw materials, contain around 16% CO2 and 7-10% O2 and NOX /SOX (100-300 ppm), contingent on the fuel type. High amounts of NOX/SOX are a significant challenge for any carbon capture system. The presence of high O2 concentration in the emitted gas stream can chemically degrade typical amines via production of amides or other oxide derivatives. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct preliminary studies at a pilot scale using real cement flue gas conditions to develop a viable technology and accurate techno-economic analysis for large plants (1 million+ tonnes of captured CO2 per year). Svante (formerly Inventys) has a strong patent portfolio on Rapid Cycle Temperature Swing Adsorption (RC-TSA) processes using structured adsorbents, steam-assisted direct regeneration with fast kinetics (< 1.5 mins cycle time) as an alternative to traditional liquid amine technologies. This project utilized scaled up CALF-20 sorbent, one of the first Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) used in an industrial CO2 capture project. This MOF is robust with regards to steam, O2 and acidic contaminant gases (such a NOX/SOX) which make it an ideal candidate for the cement CO2 capture application. This article discusses efforts to scale up the CALF-20 MOF sorbent from lab scale to ton scale. A review of CALF-20 performance after 2300 hrs of VeloxoTherm™ capture process results on a boiler flue gas doped with CO2 and Air to simulate Cement kiln flue gas at 0.1 TPD capacity is presented. Also included are results from Phase 1 of the cement project related to NOX/SOX stability tests on CALF-20 sorbent.