Experimental high-throughput adsorption unit for multi-evaluation of adsorbents for gas capture, storage and separation applications

• Autor(es): Gomes, João Sérgio Correia
• Data: 2014
• Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/12189
• Origem: Repositório Institucional da UNL
• Assunto(s): Adsorption; Volumetric method; Isotherms; LabVIEW
• Tipo de Documento: Dissertação de mestrado
• Idioma: Inglês
• Orientador(es): Esperança, Isabel; Mota, José; Ribeiro, Rui
• Contribuidor(es): RUN

Descrição

Dissertação para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química e Bioquímica

In this thesis, an experimental unit based in the volumetric adsorption method was designed and constructed. This unit allows the realization of simultaneous experiments in order to obtain adsorption equilibria data of several adsorbents quickly and efficiently. Following the construction of the unit, it was necessary to develop the respective interface for acquisition and control. This interface was developed using the LabVIEW software and aims to monitor the system variables, to control the functions of solenoid valves present in the unit, as well as to register the measured data for further analysis. After the development of the interface, a volume calibration was performed. Then the unit was ready to be experimentally validated. For this validation, two porous materials, already analysed by an adsorption gravimetric method, were selected: an activated carbon, ANGUARD 5 (Suttclife Speakman, UK) and a metal-organic framework (MOF) MIL-53 (Al) (Basolite A100 ®, BASF SE, Germany). Two gases with high potential for separation and storage were chosen for study: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Nitrogen (N2). The unit consists of two independent lines so both materials were studied simultaneously in every test. Tests at different temperatures and for different pressure ranges for both materials were performed. CO2 tests were performed on both materials at 30°C, 80°C and 150°C. The pressure range for the first test was between 0 and 10 bar and for the last two was between 0 and 15 bar. A test with N2 at 50 ° C was also performed for both materials. After, a comparison of the results obtained with other results obtained with the gravimetric method was accomplished. The results obtained are in accordance with the previously obtained gravimetric data which prove that the unit developed is working properly. The error for each measurement was obtained considering the possibility of a multivariate and cumulative error.