International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 20 (2016) pp.

10079-10084
Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com

Overview of Carbon Capture using Solid Materials

S.N. Abdullah F. Hamzah

Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, UITM, Universiti Teknologi MARA, UITM,
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract
Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouses gasses that increase According to the statistic data, the amount of CO2 has keep
yearly and contributed to the global warming and unbalance increasing by years due to the mankind activities and natural
ecosystem. The main sources for CO2 emission are from sources. IPCC had reported that by year 2100, atmosphere
transportation, industries and energy generation. The carbon will contain 570 ppmv of CO2.
emission from fossil fuel power plant contribute to one-third of
total CO2 emission percentage. Generally, there are four main
approaches of carbon capture which are physical and chemical
absorption, adsorption, cryogenic and membrane technologies.
The technologies developed for carbon capture are keep
improving towards efficient practices which including either
using solid material based or fluid based. Molecule adsorption
mechanism onto its support involve with solid materials based
while fluid based introduce molecule absorption into its fluid
absorbent. The present report is focusing on the solid materials as
carbon capture tool such as membrane, activated carbon, zeolite
and silica particle. In this overview, the principle of CO2
separation, method of experimental and application of practices
are described to provide understanding on solid materials carbon Figure 2: Concentration of CO2 per year
capture. The recent carbon capture approach using carbonic
anhydrase enzyme is introduced which gave advantages including From worlds CO2 emission data, transportation, energy
environmental friendly operations and formation of side product supplies and industries are three main sources for CO2
emission. Energy supply has been reported as the largest
Keywords: Carbon Dioxide, Solid Materials, Enzyme industry that released CO2. Meanwhile, other energy
industries that release higher CO2 at atmosphere are fossil
fuel and natural gasses processing. Power plant emitted flue
INTRODUCTION gas that consist of 70% N2, 24% CO2 and 6% H2O. While,
Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), chlorofluorocarbons IPCC had reported that power plant coal combustion
(CFCs) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are the components of contribute highest to higher release of CO2 at atmosphere
greenhouse gases (GHG). The anthropogenic activities will cause rather than petrochemical and oil and gas industries.
global warming, unbalance ecosystem and extreme weather. CO2
contribute up to 64% of total the GHG [1]. Fig. 1 has shown the
distribution of GHG components according to International Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC).

Figure 3: Sources of Worlds CO2 Emissions

Due to the high world demand of carbon based fuels for

combustion process, researchers are now introducing several
techniques for reducing CO2 emission to atmosphere such as
carbon capture technologies approaches.
Figure 1: Percentage Distribution of GHG Components

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Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com

METHODS FOR CO2 SEPARATION

Carbon capture is defined as a process of capturing or absorbing
CO2 molecule at its emission sources from release to atmosphere.
Carbon capture approaches are now a vital process technologies
towards clean environment practices, energy and cost efficient.
There are basically four primary techniques or approaches
introduced for carbon capture technology which including
chemical and physical absorption, solid adsorption, membrane
separation and cryogenic separation. Those carbon capture
technologies process have their advantages and limitations.
Liquid absorption can be defined as a separation process that
dissolved molecule CO2 into liquid solvent that act as an
absorbent. Liquid solvents are including alkanolamine, ionic
liquid (IL) and organic solvent. This absorption is the most
mature process for industrial CO2 separation [2], [3].
Monoethanolamine (MEA) gave the highest CO2 absorption
efficiency among those alkanolamine solvent. However,
alkanolamine solvents have its limitations such as corrosion to
metal, large thermal energy, solvent degradation, high volatility
and high regeneration cost [1], [4]. Recently, the combination of
the solvent such as IL with alkanolamine has been used for
absorption CO2 enhancement. This unique combination was
significantly reaching maximum of CO2 loading (0.5 mole of CO2
per mole of diethenolamine) with less energy consumption and
negligible of corrosion phenomenon [5].
Second method used for CO2 capture is cryogenic gas separation.
This is a physical separation CO2 process which was operated
under extremely low temperature and high pressure. In this
approach, gas mixture undergoes some series steps of
compression, refrigeration and separation. The amount of CO 2
recovered from this process has producing quite high purity for
about 90-95% of flue gas [2] and no chemical reagent required for
the process [3]. A major limitation for this method is high
consumption of energy, high cost and reduction efficiency of
equipment [3].
The third method for CO2 capture is adsorption separation
process. This is a process where the molecules (gas or liquid)
were get into contact with solid surface as an adsorbent, forming
molecular or atomic films. The term adsorbent is for solid
materials used for adsorption while adsorbate is molecules that
had been adsorbed such as CO2 molecule. The examples of
adsorbent are molecular sieves, activated carbon and zeolites [2].
Molecule diffusion adsorption process is 3 times higher than in
absorption and required less energy for operational but yet
possess some drawbacks such as low selectivity, regeneration and
reusability of adsorbent [1], [6].
On the other hand, membrane separation process involve with the
movement of fluid through it, which is two liquid phase, two gas
phases or combination of them through it. The molecules are
selectively transport and separated from influent using permeable
or semi-permeable membrane. The types of membrane divided
into two broad classes which are organic and inorganic membrane
[3]. Membrane approach possess several advantages such as
green and affordable alternative, less energy consumed, low
operating, and capital costs [7]. The combination of membrane
with ionic group have promising high CO2 permeability of 475.5
Barrer together with high permselectivity [8].
Figure 4: Methods of CO2 Separation and Capture
The overview of the carbon capture process is illustrated in
Fig. 4. Based on the four main techniques that had been
discussed, each of techniques have their own advantages and
limitations. From the explaination and disscussion, solid
adsorption process of carbon capture is a preferable
approaches rather than liquid absorption process regarding
the carbon capture loading capacity and also less of process
limitations. The diffusion rate of CO2 inside external
mesoporous adsorbent structure is about 3 times higher than
from aqueous amine rate diffusion [6]. Solid material
adsorption process also did not dealing with metal corrosion
problem compared with chemical absorption process. Solid
material adsorption process has been selected for the next
discussion due to its promising advantages.
SOLID MATERIALS CO2 SEPARATION
The used of solid materials as an adsorbent for CO2
separation has been applied in adsorption and membrane
separation processes. The porous solid materials superior to
fluid based in CO2 separation with the ability of materials
properties modification by impregnating of active group.
Researchers are now improving the structure of the solid
materials and combined with other good materials for
enhancing the CO2 adsorption and diffusion processes inside
the adsorbent.
Porous membrane, activated carbon, zeolite and silica
particle are those example of most understanding solid
materials for CO2 separation. Those solid materials have
porous characteristic which is suitable adsorbent for carbon
capture. The other crucial characteristic of solid adsorbent for
CO2 separation are low cost materials, low heat capacity, fast
kinetics, high CO2 adsorption and high selectivity for good
carbon capture [6].
A. Membrane as microporous materials for carbon capture
Membrane is defined as semi-permeable thin sheet that allow
certain molecules to pass through it. The molecules that
passes through membrane are called permeate and remained
molecules as retentate. Membrane structure with
characteristic of high porosity, high hydrophobicity, small
pore size are promising for good separation performance [9].
The performance of membranes are based on high
permeability and selectivity of selected molecules that passes
through it [3]. The molecules adsorption rate are based on the
type of membrane. Figure 5 show the mechanism of the
molecules adsorption via the membrane structure.

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Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
Figure 5: Membrane Molecule Adsorption Mechanism
The development and improvement of membrane structure for
carbon capture are now getting attention because of its simple
operational, low pollution and low energy consumption. The
improve developments are focused towards high CO2
permeability and selectivity of the membrane. Researchers are
now come out with the development of new modified membrane
structure to overcome membrane process limitation for better CO2
separation.
There are several membrane process limitations such as
occurrence of plasticization during the separation process,
limitation of CO2 transportation inside membrane structure and
less CO2 separation at high pressure and temperature. In general,
the addition of additive into polymer solution result in different
improvement of membrane structure especially on the strength
and plasticization. The crosslinking polymer of polyimide with
pendant piperazinium has improve the plasticization problem.
This crosslinking combination had shown excellent thermal,
mechanical and chemical stabilities and tolerance to
plasticization. This promising properties had displayed high CO 2
permeability of 475.5 Barrer together with high permselectivity
[8].
On the other hand, in order for improving CO 2 transportation in
membrane structure, the modified of membrane polyvinylamine
(PVAm) has been conducted. Modified PVAm by coating small
molecule amine on polysulfone greatly facilitate CO2
transportation in membrane structure and shown high of CO 2
separation performance [10]. Meanwhile, the introduction of
zeolite membrane has improve the CO2 separation at high
pressure. The introduction of zeolite membrane, microporous
aluminaphosphate (AIPOs) has improve CO2 separation at high
pressure of 2 MPa feed pressure [11]. For improving CO2
separation process at high temperature, the development of
inorganic membrane had been introduced. The development of
ion conducting perovskite and carbonate composite electrolyte
hollow fibre membrane used for overcoming the problem. This
combination had shown the CO2 separation at high temperature at
maximum of 900C and the membrane layer much thinner
compared with previously [12].
In conclusion, the introduction of other materials with membrane
for improving the membrane structure limitations. The membrane
structure for CO2 separation had been developed in order to
overcome the limitations during the separation process.
B. Activated carbon as solid material to capture CO2
Activated carbon is a porous material that consists of highly
adsorptive fine pore form of carbon for impurities removing,
separation and extraction application. Activated carbon possess
some advantages characteristics such as high thermal stability,
large surface area, good pore size distribution, porosimetric
structure and low cost. However, activated carbon possesses some
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limitations such as low of CO2 capacity adsorbed at mild
condition and negatively impacted the CO2 separation
process by the presence of NOX, SOX and H2O [3].
Molecules adsorption in activated carbon is illustrated in Fig.
6. Molecules in gas or liquid will attached physically onto
activated carbon surface pores via three adsorption steps. At
first, the molecule will moved through macropore system,
followed by movement through mesopore and lastly at
micropore system. The physical attachment will occurred at
mesopore and micropore of activated carbon.
Figure 6: Molecule Adsorption onto Activated Carbon [13]
The development of activated carbon for high CO2 separation
has been reported using various approaches as tabulated in
Table 2.
Table 2. Development of Activated Carbon for CO2 Separation
Modified Description Ref.
Activated
Carbon
Biomass derived CO2 adsorption has linear relationship [14]
ACs (termed bio- with ultra-micropore (0.7nm) of AC and
AC) development ash in biomass-derived AC has a positive
effect adsorption
Electrothermal Sorbent used for electrothermal swing [15]
swing adsorption adsorption (ESA) to have good
(ESA) with adsorption and desorption. Activated
activated carbon carbon fibre materials have attractive
fibre materials characteristics, such as large surface area
and micropore volume.
Activated carbons AC from synthetic materials get high [16]
from melamine- attention which can absorbed high
modified phenol amount of CO2 and could be repeatedly
formaldehyde used at atmospheric pressure
resins
Synthetic Synthetic AC obtained from mixture of [17]
activated carbon coal tar pitch and furfural. AC shows
microporous strucrure and basic
characters which suitable for CO2 capture
Combining ionic Potential ionic liquid immobilize onto [18]
liquid with activated carbon for CO2 separation due
activated carbon to promising of great dispersion.
Combination AC with amino-acid based
ionic liquid, [Emin][Gly]IL improve CO2
separation performance.
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 20 (2016) pp. 10079-10084
Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com

The derivation of synthetic activated carbon had improved the implementation of enzyme carbonic anhydrase is an
structure and sorption properties of solid materials while the alternative for environmentally practices. Carbonic anhydrase
combination of activated carbon with ionic liquid shown a good (CA) is a biocatalyst that catalyze reversible hydration
molecules dispersion and improve carbon capture. Modification reaction of CO2. This enzyme consist of zinc ion active site,
of activated carbon characteristic and process combination with efficiently catalyze CO2 hydration reaction [24], [25]. The
other materials give a positive impact towards capture of CO 2. introduction of this CA enzyme has improved the carbon
Activated carbon as one of the excellent promising adsorbent for capture process at a specific condition. The mechanism
CO2 separation. reaction of CO2 hydration reaction catalyzed by CA enzyme
is illustrated in Fig. 7.
C. Zeolite and silica as catalyst for solid material to capture CO2
Zeolites can be describe as microporous crystalline
aluminasilicate which used as commercial adsorbent and
catalysts. The presence of alkali cation enables of zeolite to
absorb acid gas such as CO2 and favorable for adsorption process
[3]. The development of mesoporous silica as a catalyst show a
good potential for CO2 capture since silica particle possess great
stability, low toxicity and ability to function with wider range of
polymers. The application of zeolites and silica particles in CO 2 Figure 7: Mechanism reaction of CO2 hydration reaction [26]
separation are mostly with membrane combination for separation
enhancement. The advantages of enzyme application in CO2 separation
The advantages of silica particle as a good material is the process is increase the CO2 absorption rate into solution and
formation of gas hydrate in silica pores for enhancing CO2 promising environmental friendly approach. The
adsorption process [19]. While, Zhu et. al was introduced hybrid immobilization or attachment of CA onto support materials
sorbent material of ionic liquid modified porous silica for has improving the CA enzyme activity, stability and half life
improving limitation of high viscosity of ionic liquid (IL) [20]. enzyme towards high CO2 separation process compared to
Combination of silica particle and zeolite with other material for the free cell. The nonporous carrier is suitable for enzyme
structure improvement is shown in Table 3. immobilization compared to porous support. This is because,
nonporous support offer a large external surface area for
Table 3. Silica and Zeolite Development for Separation enzyme attachment [24].
There are many types of materials that can be used as support
Solid Materials Description Ref. materials or carrier for CA enzyme attachment such as silica
Development particle, mesoporous an activated carbon. Silica nanoparticle
is one of nonporous material which offer an increasing of
Mixed matrix Incorporating inorganic silica [21] immobilized CA enzyme activity 3 times and half life of 4.4
membranes nanoparticles into blends of times over 30 days [24]. Meanwhile, the immobilized CA
(MMMs) polysulfone/polyimide (PSF/PI) and enzyme onto mesoporous aluminasilicates support material
this hybrid blends show improvement also shown the improvement. The immobilized CA enzyme
in thermal stability and reduce retained its activity more than 50% of its initial activity
plasticization. compared with free enzyme which only retained 20% of its
Mesoporous The mesoporous silica/carbon [22] initial. The CA half life also last longer for 600h rather than
silica/carbon composite membranes exhibit an free enzyme, only for 360h at 25C [27].
composite excellent gas separation performance in Similar with mesoporous aluminasilicates, CA immobilized
membranes terms of CO2 gas permeability and onto activated carbon had also improved the enzyme
selectivity properties. The immobilized enzyme activity retained 60% of
Thin zeolite Resultant zeolite/carbon composite [23] its initial activity after 90 days at 25C compare to free, only
T/carbon membrane combines the advantages of retained 30% [16]. Besides the improvement of enzyme
composite the carbon membrane and zeolite activity and half life, immobilization also had improved
membranes contents shows best separation enzyme storage stability and carbon capture efficiency. The
performance CA immobilized onto mesoporous SBA-15 had improve
carbon capture efficiency by 25 fold higher that free enzyme,
while the enzyme storage stability retained 87% of its activity
The development of the membrane integrated with zeolite and after 30 days [26].
silica capable to enhance the membrane structure, and In conclusion, the porous properties of material support is a
consequently improve CO2 separation process. With this finding, crucial factor for selecting the best carrier for enzyme
the limitation on the conventional membrane can be overcome. immobilization. The immobilization of CA enzyme onto
solid materials as a carrier had significantly improved the
properties of CA enzyme such as enzyme stability, half life,
SOLID AND CELL INTEGRATION FOR CO2 REMOVAL carbon capture efficiency and enzyme storage stability.
Recently, carbon capture integrated with biological catalyst
become new area of interest to the researchers. The

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 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 20 (2016) pp. 10079-10084
Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
CONCLUSION
The adsorption process of carbon capture by using solid materials
had shown advantages compared with the absorption process
using solvent. The improvement development of solid material
had increasing the carbon capture capacity for better separation
process. In recent years, carbon capture integrated with the
biological catalyst of carbonic anhydrase become new area of
interest to the researchers. This is an alternative for carbon
capture technology which implemented environmentally
practices. This application of biological introduction has increase
the CO2 separation process, towards greener approaches.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledgement to Universiti Teknologi
MARA UITM for technically supporting this research and high
appreciation to (600-RMI/FRGS 5/3(148/2014)) for financial
support
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