Electrical conductive 3D-printed monolith adsorbent for CO2 capture

The development of an adsorbent material by 3D printing technology with high CO2 adsorption capacity and electrical conductivity is presented for application in Electric Swing Adsorption process. The adsorbent is composed by zeolite 13X, activated carbon and binder. The prepared ink was characterized in order to determine its rheological properties. Two honeycomb monoliths, one with 30 x 30 x 43 mm(3) and another one with 30 x 28 x 10 mm(3) were printed. Textural characterization was performed by several techniques, including CO2 adsorption at 273 K. A high CO2 adsorption capacity of 3.49 mol/kg was obtained for the 3D-printed monolith at 0.15 bar and 273 K. Mechanical strength of the material was evaluated in a piece with 10 x 10 x 4 mm(3). A value of 5.0 MPa was obtained. Heating of the material was tested by Joule effect through an electric current passage in the monolith, which presented a resistivity of 0.28 Omega m. An increase of temperature of about 80 K was achieved in 180 s, with a power consumption of 3.25 W. An adsorption quantity of CO2 of 1.45 mol/kg (at 0.09 bar and 303 K) was obtained by adsorption equilibrium isotherms measurements. These experiments demonstrated that the printed material is suitable for Electric Swing Adsorption processes applied for CO2 capture.