A metal-organic framework (MOF)-based temperature swing adsorption cycle for postcombustion CO2 capture from wet flue gas

We report a simulation-based feasibility study of a single-stage temperature swing adsorption (TSA) process operated on a metal–organic framework (MOF) adsorbent, UTSA-16, for CO2 capture and concentration from a wet flue gas without pre-drying or a desiccant pre-layer. Two cycles comprising four and five-steps are compared. A non-isothermal and non-isobaric in-house simulator including suitably modelled equilibrium and kinetics of H2O-CO2-N2 ternary system is used to investigate the cyclic processes. The variables investigated are moisture-saturated flue gas at two feed and three regeneration temperatures. Both TSA cycles can meet 95% purity-90% recovery targets for postcombustion streams representative of wet flue gas from a coal-fired power plant (after SOx/NOx removal). The maximum productivity attained is 91.8 kg CO2 m−3 adsorber h−1 for 15% CO2, 82 % N2, and 3% H2O feed at 25 °C (i.e., 95% relative humidity) operated on a five-step cycle and regenerated at 150 °C.