Development of Regenerable MgO-Based Sorbent Promoted with K2CO3 for CO2 Capture at Low Temperatures

To improve their CO2 absorption capacity, alkali-based sorbents prepared by impregnation and wet mixing method of potassium carbonate on supports such as activated carbon and MgO (KACI30, KACP30, KMgI30, and KMgP30), were investigated in a fixed bed reactor (CO2 absorption at 50–100 °C and regeneration at 150–400 °C). Total CO2 capture capacities of KMgI30-500 and KMgP30-500 were 178.6 and 197.6 mg CO2/g sorbent, respectively, in the presence of 11 vol % H2O even at 50 °C. The large amount of CO2 capture capacity of KMgP30-500 and KMgI30-500 could be explained by the fact that MgO itself, as well as K2CO3, could absorb CO2 in the presence of water vapor even at low temperatures. In particular, water vapor plays an important role in the CO2 absorption of MgO and KMgI30-500 even at low temperatures below 60 °C, in marked contrast to MgO and CaO which can absorb CO2 at high temperatures. The CO2 capture capacity of the KMgI30-300 sorbent, however, was less than that of KMgI30-500 due to the formation of Mg(OH)2 which did not absorb CO2. MgO based-sorbents promoted with K2CO3 after CO2 absorption formed new structures such as K2Mg(CO3)2 and K2Mg(CO3)2·4(H2O), unlike KACI30 which showed only the KHCO3 crystal structure. The new Mg-based sorbents promoted with K2CO3 showed excellent characteristics in that it could satisfy a large amount of CO2 absorption at low temperatures, a high CO2 absorption rate, and fast and complete regeneration.