CO₂and CH₄breakthrough study: Ni-MOF-74 adsorbent in pressure swing adsorption

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the main culprits that contribute towards the global warming which is worsening over time at an alarming trend. The excessive emission of CO2 from natural gas industry due to the inefficient separation processes has significantly added to the composition of this greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Thus, more advanced, efficient as well as cost efficient natural gas separation systems such as Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) is needed to cater the issue from worsen. Metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs) has attracted a lot of attention in the gas separation and storage industry as a potential adsorbent for PSA unit due to its high porosity and other related properties. In this study, the analytical comparison of the synthesized Ni-MOF-74 and palleted Ni-MOF-74-PLA (polylactic acid) by solvothermal reaction is carried out using FTIR, SEM, PXRD, and SAP. The presence of binder PLA in the Ni-MOF-74-PLA has reduced the BET surface area of the particles to 299.62 m2/g compared to Ni-MOF-74 of 837.93 m2/g. The performance of the adsorbents is being further evaluated using dynamic adsorption breakthrough at 25°C and 1 bar where the CO2 uptake for Ni-MOF-74 is higher compared to Ni-MOF-74-PLA with 0.9391 mmol/g and 0.8728 mmol/g respectively. Furthermore, the selectivity of the Ni-MOF-74 is found to be 1.8313 which is higher compared to Ni-MOF-74-PLA at 1.1779 indicates that the palletization using PLA reduced the performance of Ni-MOF-74. This research explores the potential adsorbent with high CO2 adsorption capacity and selectivity for the optimum separation of natural gas using PSA unit.