Scaled-up fabrication of durable and porous adsorbent-coated minichannels on aluminum for CO2 separation

A method was developed to fabricate zeolite 13X adsorbent-coated minichannels on aluminum for CO2 adsorption applications in this study. It emphasizes the innovative use of aluminum as a substrate, which offers airtight assembly, paving the way for highly efficient adsorption systems. An optimized coating process was developed using a slurry of Zeolite 13X, yeast, sugar, and xanthan gum, resulting in durable and highly porous layers that enhance CO2 capture performance. A PETG peeler was designed to remove the top layer of the yeast-engineered adsorbent coatings, revealing a super porous and foamy structure. The teeth of the peeler were designed and fabricated for high repeatability and rapid prototyping. Breakthrough experiments were conducted on the scaled-up adsorbent bed using gas mixtures of 80 % CO2, 20 % N-2, and 20 % CO2, 80 % N-2 to represent different industrial scenarios. The performance of the bed was evaluated at flow rates of 160 and 190 cm(3) min(-1) using a Raman Laser Gas Analyzer (RLGA), demonstrating stable adsorption without degradation across multiple cycles. Computational modeling of integral transport phenomena under the chosen experimental conditions was pursued using gPROMS ProcessBuilder (TM), and the modeling results were compared with those from the tests for adsorption time, which resulted in an error margin of 2 % to 9 % for the breakthrough time, confirming the easy reproducibility of the design through modeling. This research advances CO2 capture technologies by providing an effective and scalable solution for producing aluminum-based adsorbent coated beds, supporting industrial carbon capture efforts.