Researchers Tackle Carbon Capture Advances with zeolites and MOFs improve ability to absorb carbon dioxide

摘要

TWO RESEARCH breakthroughs,one in Sweden,the other in Switzerland,have thrown new light on two outstanding challenges to carbon capture technology:how to overcome the shortcomings of zeolites;and how to pinpoint the most appropriate metal organic frameworks(MOFs)from a cast of hundreds of thousands.Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology,Gothenburg,and Stockholm University,both in Sweden,have developed a bio-based hybrid foam laced with zeolites that can absorb high levels of carbon dioxide.Zeolites’larger particle size typically makes them tricky to work with and,thus,has limited their use for carbon capture.However,the researchers addressed these problems by working with smaller(<200-nm)particles combined with a meso- and macroporous support material based on a foam of gelatin and nanocellulose.This achieved up to 90% by weight of zeolite content,giving the material better ability to selectively adsorb carbon dioxide while still providing a very open pore structure that enables high gas flows.