Comparison of CuCl/NaY and CuCl/AC Process Performance Using a Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption Simulation

A five-bed, seven-step vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) system was computationally modeled to assess carbon monoxide (CO) separation from CO/N<sub>2</sub> mixed gas (30/70, <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>). Two adsorbents with distinct isotherm characteristics (steep-slo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Congli Li, Xuling Guo, Lei Tang, Jiahui Yang, Qi Shi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Separations
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2297-8739/12/4/93
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Summary:A five-bed, seven-step vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) system was computationally modeled to assess carbon monoxide (CO) separation from CO/N<sub>2</sub> mixed gas (30/70, <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>). Two adsorbents with distinct isotherm characteristics (steep-slope CuCl/NaY and flat-slope CuCl/AC) were comparatively evaluated for their process performance, focusing on CO purity, recovery, productivity, and energy consumption. The simulation results demonstrate that under industrial-grade specifications requiring both adsorbents to achieve CO purity > 97% and recovery > 83%, CuCl/AC achieves a 3.9-fold higher productivity (27.238 vs. 7.016 mol kg<sup>−1</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>) than CuCl/NaY while maintaining a comparable energy consumption. This performance disparity stems from CuCl/AC’s enhanced bed layer CO desorption amount during a cyclic VPSA operation, which enhances feed gas throughput per unit adsorbent mass. This study demonstrates that CuCl/AC, with its flat-slope adsorption isotherm and high desorption amount, can serve as a promising adsorbent for achieving high-purity CO with a significantly enhanced productivity via the VPSA process.
ISSN:2297-8739