Dynamic Adsorption of CO2 from Methane: Studies on Mass and Heat Transfer

Three‐dimensional computational fluid dynamics studies related to dynamics adsorption of CO2 from natural gas is found to be limited. 3D analyses for dynamics adsorption are substantially crucial to give a better prediction on the adsorption process by considering the actual fluid flow behavior within the packed‐bed porous media. A kinetic adsorption model has been integrated in a commercial fluid dynamics simulator to simulate the 3D hydrodynamics and adsorption phenomenon in a zeolite‐filled packed column for a CO2‐methane separation system. The effects of various parameters such as Reynolds number, CO2 feed concentration, feed temperature, and column dimension on CO2 adsorption efficiency have been investigated. A correlation for adsorption efficiency based on the CO2 concentration profiles has been developed and validated. A dynamic numerical computational fluid dynamics model was integrated into a commercial fluid dynamics simulator and validated to simulate the fluid flow and transport phenomena for separation of CO2‐CH4 in a packed‐bed adsorption column. The simulation results demonstrated a realistic pattern for the effects of operating parameters on adsorption dynamics.