Multiscale Modeling of Molecular Sieving in LTA-type Zeolites : From the Quantum Level to the Macroscopic

LTA-type zeolites with narrow window apertures coinciding with the approximate size of small gaseous molecules such as CO2 and N2 are interesting candidates for adsorbents with swing adsorption technologies due to their molecular sieving capabilities and otherwise attractive properties. These sieving capabilities are dependent on the energy barriers of diffusion between the zeolite pores, which can be fine-tuned by altering the framework composition. An ab initio level of theory is necessary to accurately describe specific gas-zeolite interaction and diffusion properties, while it is desirable to predict the macroscopic scale diffusion for industrial applications. Hence, a multiscale modeling approach is necessary to describe the molecular sieving phenomena exhaustively. In this thesis, we use several different modeling methods on different length and time scales to describe the diffusion driven uptake and separation of CO2 and N2 in Zeolite NaKA. A combination of classical force field based modeling methods are used to show the importance of taking into account both thermodynamic, as well as, kinetic effects when modeling gas uptake in narrow pore zeolites where the gas diffusion is to some extent hindered. For a more detailed investigation of the gas molecules’ pore-to-pore dynamics in the material, we present a procedure to compute the free energy barriers of diffusion using spatially constrained ab initio Molecular Dynamics. With this procedure, we seek to identify diffusion rate determining local properties of the Zeolite NaKA pores, including the Na+-to-K+ exchange at different ion sites and the presence of additional CO2 molecules in the pores. This energy barrier information is then used as input for the Kinetic Monte Carlo method, allowing us to simulate and compare these and other effects on the diffusion driven uptake using a realistic powder particle model on macroscopic timescales.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.