Adsorption of carbon dioxide and nitrogen on silicalite-1 and M41S type materials.

Fossil fuels still remain the primary energy source all over the world, but their use is cause of serious and worrying global warming because of the exhaust gases deriving from combustion. CO 2 is the main pollutant responsible for this greenhouse effect. Thus, its capture and sequestration are receiving growing attention in order to mitigate the warming danger. The ability of silicalite-1 and M41S type materials to adsorb pure CO 2 and N 2 was studied by determining the adsorption isotherms at 20°C. Na amount in the synthesis gel of the silicalite-1 type materials reduced the N 2 adsorption capacity without effect on the CO 2 adsorption performances. For a hypothetic application in a PSA process, the Na-silicalite-1 type adsorbents synthesized, allowed to realize an easy regeneration, even if the CO 2/N 2 selectivity was not very high. At the same time, the mesoporous material was a very promising adsorbent for the CO 2 separation