The Crucial Role of the K+-Aluminium Oxide Interaction in K+-Promoted Alumina- and Hydrotalcite-Based Materials for CO2 Sorption at High Temperatures

CO2-free hydrogen can be produced from coal gasification power plants by pre-combustion decarbonisation and carbon dioxide capture. Potassium carbonate promoted hydrotalcite-based and alumina-based materials are cheap and excellent materials for high-temperature (300-500 degrees C) adsorption of CO2, and particularly promising in the sorption-enhanced water gas shift (SEWGS) reaction. Alkaline promotion significantly improves CO2 reversible sorption capacity at 300-500 degrees C for both materials. Hydrotalcites and promoted hydrotalcites, promoted magnesium oxide and promoted gamma-alumina were investigated by in situ analytical methods (IR spectroscopy, sorption experiments, X-ray diffraction) to identify structural and surface rearrangements. All experimental results show that potassium ions actually strongly interact with aluminium oxide centres in the aluminium-containing materials. This study unambiguously shows that potassium promotion of aluminium oxide centres in hydrotalcite generates basic sites which reversibly adsorb CO2 at 400 degrees C