Desorption of CO2 from activated carbon fibre-phenolic resin composite by electrothermal effect

CO2 capture by electrothermal swing adsorption is considered superior over conventional adsorption approaches: temperature swing adsorption and pressure swing adsorption. In this work, the effects of electricity, preheating and flow rate were studied. An increase in energy input by electricity has been found able to improve desorption performance more significantly than an increase in current level. However, higher current level is recommended because it can minimise energy loss while passing electricity. Higher flow rate can also be beneficial due to the improved desorption rate and reduced desorption time. However, there is a drop in CO2 concentration in the effluent gas. When desorption takes place at a high current level, preheating is not required as it extends desorption duration with no obvious improvement in desorption rate. CO2 capture by electrothermal swing adsorption has also been tested with different concentrations of CO2. It is found that electrothermal swing adsorption can be more energy efficient while dealing with higher concentration CO2. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.