Synergistic Catalysis of SO42–/TiO2–CNT for the CO2 Desorption Process with Low Energy Consumption

To address the issue of high energy consumption associated with monoethanolamine (MEA) regeneration in the CO2 capture process, solid acid catalysts have been widely investigated due to their performance in accelerating carbamate decomposition. The recently discovered carbon nanotube (CNT) catalyst presents efficient catalytic activity for bicarbonate decomposition. In this paper, bifunctional catalysts SO42–/TiO2–CNT (STC) were prepared, which could simultaneously catalyze carbamate and bicarbonate decomposition, and outstanding catalytic performance has been exhibited. STC significantly increased the CO2 desorption amount by 82.3% and decreased the relative heat duty by 46% compared to the MEA–CO2 solution without catalysts. The excellent stability of STC was confirmed by 15 cyclic absorption–desorption experiments, showing good practical feasibility for decreasing energy consumption in an industrial CO2 capture process. Furthermore, associated with the results of experimental characterization and theoretical calculations, the synergistic catalysis of STC catalysts via proton and charge transfer was proposed. This work demonstrated the potential of STC catalysts in improving the efficiency of amine regeneration processes and reducing energy consumption, contributing to the design of more effective and economical catalysts for carbon capture.