Effect of Si/Al Ratio on CO2– CH4Adsorption and Selectivity in Synthesized SAPO-34

The Production of Industrial-Grade Oxygen from Air by Pressure Swing Adsorption

Oxygen, an odorless and colorless gas constituent of the atmosphere, is a vital gas component for the Earth, as it makes up 21% of the composition of the air we breathe. Apart from the importance of oxygen for human breathing, its highly pure form is demanding for industrial applications. As such, several technologies have been established to increase the oxygen purity from 21% to somewhat higher than 95%. One of the competitive technologies for producing this high-purity oxygen from the air is through pressure swing adsorption (PSA), which has the advantages of low cost and energy while being highly efficient. Also, PSA is a simple and flexible system due to its ability to start up and shut down more rapidly since its operation occurs at ambient temperature, which is enabled through the use of adsorbents to bind and separate the air molecules. The enhancement of the PSA’s performances was reported through the modification of PSA step cycles and material (zeolite) tailoring. A simplified complete set of a mathematical model is included for modelling the PSA system, aiming to ease the experimental burden of the process design and optimization of an infinite modification of PSA step cycles. Finally, some technological importance of oxygen production via PSA, particularly for onboard oxygen generation system and oxy-enriched incineration of municipal solid waste, was discussed. Continuous development of PSA will make significant contributions to a wide range of chemical industries in the near future, be it for oxygen production or other gas separation applications.

SAPO-34 zeotype membrane for gas sweetening

Membranes are considered promising tools for gas sweetening due to their lower footprint (i.e., area and energy requirement, considering elimination of solvent/absorbent and its associated regeneration procedures), and ease of scale-up. Performing membrane gas separation is strongly dependent on membrane materials. With a 0.38-nm pore size, the SAPO-34 membrane surpasses the upper bond limit for CO2/CH4 separation. However, preparing defect-free and high-performance zeolite membranes is quite challenging. This paper reviews gas transport and separation mechanisms in SAPO-34 membranes, and it discusses prospective approaches for obtaining membranes with defect-free selective layers and hence high separation performance. Highlights, as well as the authors’ perspectives on the future development of SAPO-34 membranes in the field of gas separation, are pointed out.

Extrusion and Characterization of High Si/Al Ratio ZSM-5 Using Silica Binder

Biogas upgrading is a key operation for transforming raw biogas into valuable biomethane that can be used as fuel or transported through pipelines. Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is one possible technique that can be used for upgrading. ZSM-5 with high silica/aluminum (Si/Al) ratio has a reasonable CO2/CH4 selectivity and an almost linear CO2 adsorption isotherm, which can reduce power consumption. Extrusion of zeolites uses Al-based binders which can result in a denaturation and in a decrease of Si/Al ratio, promoting a steeper CO2 isotherm and also impacting the water adsorption. In this work, we have extruded a ZSM-5 (with a Si/Al = 200) using only silica-based binder. Different samples were obtained using different extrusion paste compositions and operating conditions and their textural properties characterized. The mechanical strength of the samples as well as the CO2, CH4, and H2O adsorption equilibrium isotherms at 303–343 K were measured. Our results show that it is possible to produce extrudates with mechanical resistance comparable to (or higher than) commercial zeolite materials with surface area reductions lower than 10% and little or no impact on the CO2/CH4 selectivity.

Progress on Incorporating Zeolites in Matrimid®5218 Mixed Matrix Membranes towards Gas Separation

Membranes, as perm-selective barriers, have been widely applied for gas separation applications. Since some time ago, pure polymers have been used mainly for the preparation of membranes, considering different kinds of polymers for such preparation. At this point, polyimides (e.g., Matrimid^®5218) are probably one of the most considered polymers for this purpose. However, the limitation on the performance relationship of polymeric membranes has promoted their enhancement through the incorporation of different inorganic materials (e.g., zeolites) into their matrix. Therefore, the aim of this work is to provide an overview about the progress of zeolite embedding in Matrimid^®5218, aiming at the preparation of mixed matrix membranes for gas separation. Particular attention is paid to the relevant experimental results and current findings. Finally, we describe the prospects and future trends in the field.

Adsorption of Lead Ions from Aqueous Solutions Using Gamma Irradiated Minerals

For the first time, an irradiated mineral was used as a novel modified adsorbent for lead removal of aqueous solutions. The effects of gamma radiation doses and temperature on the lead adsorption capacity of an unknown mineral were evaluated. The results show that, in the chemisorption process, the highest adsorption capacity (9.91 mg/g) and the maximum percentage of lead removal (99.1%) were reached at 40°C when using an irradiated mineral at 150 kGy. The improvement on the lead adsorption speed was the most important feature of the irradiated mineral. The experimental results were successfully correlated with the pseudo second-order kinetic model. For all results, the average absolute relative deviations (AARD) were less than 13.20%, and the correlation factor (r2) was higher than 0.998. Moreover, the average values of the thermodynamic parameters (ΔG0=-10612 J/mol, ΔH0=-12360 J/mol, and ΔS0=171 J/mol K) suggest the feasibility of the proposed process, in terms of the endothermic and irreversible chemisorption results; moreover, ion exchange was evaluated through the EDS results. The X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the unknown irradiated mineral is mainly composed of quartz (SiO2), calcite (CaCO3), and calcium magnesium silicate (Ca0.15Mg0.85) Mg (SiO6).