A novel aerogel sodium‐based sorbent for low temperature CO 2 capture

The object of this research is to develop a novel sodium‐based solid sorbent with amine modification for low temperature CO 2 capture in coal‐fired power plants. The new sorbent (NaN) was synthesized with Na 2 CO 3 , 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) through sol‐gel method, and then dried with three different methods: conventional drying (CD), organic solvent sublimation drying (OSSD), and supercritical fluid drying (SCFD). The CO 2 sorption capacity of NaN was evaluated using a fixed‐bed reactor under various conditions including the temperature and moisture concentration of the flue gas. Results demonstrated that the optimized SCFD‐NaN with APTES:Na 2 CO 3 :TEOS mole ratio of 1:1:1 reached the highest CO 2 sorption capacity of 2.51 mmol/g under the best experimental conditions (50°C, H 2 O/CO 2 = 1:1). Moreover, the NaN sorbent was regenerable and stable during the 10 cyclic operations. Thus, the SCFD‐NaN sorbent is a promising composite sorbent for CO 2 capture. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd