Amine Adsorbents Stability for Post‐Combustion CO₂ Capture: Determination and Validation of Laboratory Degradation Rates in a Multi‐staged Fluidized Bed Pilot Plant

Abstract

Alternative to current liquid amine technologies for post-combustion CO₂ capture, new technologies such as adsorbent-based processes are developed, wherein material lifetime and degradation is important. Herein a robust method to determine degradation rates in a laboratory setup is developed, which was validated with a continuous multi-staged fluidized bed pilot plant designed to capture 1 ton CO₂ per day. An amine functionalized polystyrene adsorbent showed very good agreement between the experimental 1000-hour laboratory degradation rates and 2200 hours of degradation in a pilot plant. This validates how laboratory experiments can be extrapolated for sorbent screening and for scale-up. Resulting, the oxidative degradation in the desorber at high temperatures (120 °C) and low O₂ concentrations (150 ppmv) is 3 times higher compared to the adsorber at low temperatures and high O₂ (56 °C, 7 vol %). Laboratory degradation experiments can hence be used to further optimize process operations to limit degradation or screen for potential new adsorbents.