Discipline: Chemistry and Chemical Sciences
Subcategory: Environmental Engineering
Session: 2
Room: Exhibit Hall A
Julie A. Colon Martinez - University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez
Co-Author(s): Huong Giang T. Nguyen, National Institute of Standards and Technology, MD; Roger van Zee, National Institute of Standards and Technology, MD
Challenges, such as climate change and air pollution, resulting from excessive emissions of greenhouse/toxic gases like CO2 and NOx, urge for the exploration of alternative energy sources other than fossil fuels. Adsorption is a cleaner and less energy-consuming separation or storage mechanism for alternative sources of energy, such as hydrogen gas. Alternatively, it is also an emissions mitigation tool in the fossil fuels industry as the world transitions towards alternative energy sources. These are continuously investigated to meet the increasing energy demand. In the present work, the selectivity of CO2 and N2 at high pressure was predicted on NIST zeolite reference materials RM 8852 (ammonium ZMS-5) and RM 8850 (zeolite Y) to obtain binary adsorption isotherms at 25 ?C and 35 ?C. This was done by evaluating the high-pressure pure adsorption equilibria of CO2 and N2 on a gravimetric instrument and a manometric instrument with both zeolites. Data obtained from the different adsorption equipment was compared to ensure the accuracy of the data. Binary CO2N2 adsorption equilibria was predicted using the ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST). The pore structures of the reference materials and intermolecular forces between the gases and the materials were analyzed to better understand the selectivity results. CO2 was found to be the more adsorbed gas in the mixture due to its interaction with the material?s surface, mostly for RM 8850, while the selectivity depended on the gas composition. For future work we would like to compare these results with data obtained from binary adsorption equipment and go further into analyzing pore structure.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): I would like to thank my mentor from NIST, Huong Giang Nguyen, for teaching me the concepts that involve this field of adsorption. Also, the Facility for Adsorbent Characterization Testing (FACT) laboratory for the equipment and materials.
Faculty Advisor: Huong Giang Nguyen, huong.nguyen@nist.gov
Role: As part of this research I prepared the samples for each of the equipment (gravimetric and manometric). However, I mostly focused on performing measurements on the gravimetric equipment rather than the manometric. I collected data and carried out the isotherm and the IAST prediction for both gases on both equipment. Along with my mentor, I analyzed the data in order to draw the main conclusions of the research.