Al2O3 and CeO2-promoted MgO sorbents for CO2 capture at moderate temperatures

A series of Al2O3 and CeO2 modified MgO sorbents was prepared and studied for CO2 sorption at moderate temperatures. The CO2 sorption capacity of MgO was enhanced with the addition of either Al2O3 or CeO2. Over Al2O3-MgO sorbents, the best capacity of 24.6 mg- CO2/g-sorbent was attained at 100 °C, which was 61% higher than that of MgO (15.3 mg-CO2/g-sorbent). The highest capacity of 35.3 mg-CO2/g-sorbent was obtained over the CeO2-MgO sorbents at the optimal temperature of 200 °C. Combining with the characterization results, we conclude that the promotion effect on CO2 sorption with the addition of Al2O3 and CeO2 can be attributed to the increased surface area with reduced MgO crystallite size. Moreover, the addition of CeO2 increased the basicity of MgO phase, resulting in more increase in the CO2 capacity than Al2O3 promoter. Both the Al2O3-MgO and CeO2-MgO sorbents exhibited better cyclic stability than MgO over the course of fifteen CO2 sorption-desorption cycles. Compared to Al2O3, CeO2 is more effective for promoting the CO2 capacity of MgO. To enhance the CO2 capacity of MgO sorbent, increasing the basicity is more effective than the increase in the surface area.