International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.

5 (2015)
Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

Overview of Carbon Capture using Solid Materials

S.N. Abdullah F. Hamzah,

Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, UITM, Universiti Teknologi MARA, UITM,
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
snadiaabdullah@yahoo.com fazlena@salam.uitm.edu.my

Abstract- Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouses gasses that

increase yearly and contributed to the global warming and
unbalance ecosystem. The main sources for CO 2 emission are
from transportation, industries and energy generation. The carbon
emission from fossil fuel power plant contribute to one-third of
total CO2 emission percentage. Generally, there are four main
approaches of carbon capture which are physical and chemical
absorption, adsorption, cryogenic and membrane technologies.
The technologies developed for carbon capture are keep
improving towards efficient practices which including either
using solid material based or fluid based. Molecule adsorption Fig. 2: Concentration of CO2 per year
mechanism onto its support involve with solid materials based
while fluid based introduce molecule absorption into its fluid From worlds CO2 emission data, transportation,
absorbent. The present report is focusing on the solid materials as energy supplies and industries are three main sources for
carbon capture tool such as membrane, activated carbon, zeolite CO2 emission. Energy supply has been reported as the
and silica particle. In this overview, the principle of CO2 largest industry that released CO2. Meanwhile, other
separation, method of experimental and application of practices energy industries that release higher CO2 at atmosphere
are described to provide understanding on solid materials carbon are fossil fuel and natural gasses processing. Power plant
capture. The recent carbon capture approach using carbonic emitted flue gas that consist of 70% N2, 24% CO2 and
anhydrase enzyme is introduced which gave advantages including 6% H2O. While, IPCC had reported that power plant coal
environmental friendly operations and formation of side product combustion contribute highest to higher release of CO 2 at
atmosphere rather than petrochemical and oil and gas
Keywords: Carbon Dioxide, Solid Materials, Enzyme industries.

Introduction
Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) and nitrous oxide (N 2O) are the components of
greenhouse gases (GHG). The anthropogenic activities will cause
global warming, unbalance ecosystem and extreme weather. CO2
contribute up to 64% of total the GHG [1]. Fig. 1 has shown the
distribution of GHG components according to International Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC). Fig. 3: Sources of Worlds CO2 Emissions

Due to the high world demand of carbon based

fuels for combustion process, researchers are now
introducing several techniques for reducing CO 2
emission to atmosphere such as carbon capture
technologies approaches.

Methods for CO2 Separation

Fig. 1: Percentage Distribution of GHG Components
According to the statistic data, the amount of CO 2 has
keep increasing by years due to the mankind activities and natural
sources. IPCC had reported that by year 2100, atmosphere will
contain 570 ppmv of CO2.
Carbon capture is defined as a process of capturing or
absorbing CO2 molecule at its emission sources from
release to atmosphere. Carbon capture approaches are
now a vital process technologies towards clean
environment practices, energy and cost efficient. There
are basically four primary techniques or approaches
introduced for carbon capture technology which

139
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.5 (2015)
Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm
including chemical and physical absorption, solid adsorption,
membrane separation and cryogenic separation. Those carbon
capture technologies process have their advantages and
limitations.
Liquid absorption can be defined as a separation process
that dissolved molecule CO2 into liquid solvent that act as an
absorbent. Liquid solvents are including alkanolamine, ionic
liquid (IL) and organic solvent. This absorption is the most
mature process for industrial CO2 separation [2], [3].
Monoethanolamine (MEA) gave the highest CO 2 absorption
efficiency among those alkanolamine solvent. However,
alkanolamine solvents have its limitations such as corrosion to
metal, large thermal energy, solvent degradation, high volatility
and high regeneration cost [1], [4]. Recently, the combination of
the solvent such as IL with alkanolamine has been used for
absorption CO2 enhancement. This unique combination was
significantly reaching maximum of CO 2 loading (0.5 mole of CO 2
per mole of diethenolamine) with less energy consumption and
negligible of corrosion phenomenon [5].
Second method used for CO2 capture is cryogenic gas
separation. This is a physical separation CO 2 process which was
operated under extremely low temperature and high pressure. In
this approach, gas mixture undergoes some series steps of
compression, refrigeration and separation. The amount of CO 2
recovered from this process has producing quite high purity for
about 90-95% of flue gas [2] and no chemical reagent required for
the process [3]. A major limitation for this method is high
consumption of energy, high cost and reduction efficiency of
equipment [3].
The third method for CO2 capture is adsorption
separation process. This is a process where the molecules (gas or
liquid) were get into contact with solid surface as an adsorbent,
forming molecular or atomic films. The term adsorbent is for
solid materials used for adsorption while adsorbate is molecules
that had been adsorbed such as CO 2 molecule. The examples of
adsorbent are molecular sieves, activated carbon and zeolites [2].
Molecule diffusion adsorption process is 3 times higher than in
absorption and required less energy for operational but yet
possess some drawbacks such as low selectivity, regeneration and
reusability of adsorbent [1], [6].
On the other hand, membrane separation process
involve with the movement of fluid through it, which is two liquid
phase, two gas phases or combination of them through it. The
molecules are selectively transport and separated from influent
using permeable or semi-permeable membrane. The types of
membrane divided into two broad classes which are organic and
inorganic membrane [3]. Membrane approach possess several
advantages such as green and affordable alternative, less energy
consumed, low operating, and capital costs [7]. The combination
of membrane with ionic group have promising high CO 2
permeability of 475.5 Barrer together with high permselectivity
[8].
140
Fig. 4: Methods of CO2 Separation and Capture
The overview of the carbon capture process is
illustrated in Fig. 4. Based on the four main techniques
that had been discussed, each of techniques have their
own advantages and limitations. From the explaination
and disscussion, solid adsorption process of carbon
capture is a preferable approaches rather than liquid
absorption process regarding the carbon capture loading
capacity and also less of process limitations. The
diffusion rate of CO2 inside external mesoporous
adsorbent structure is about 3 times higher than from
aqueous amine rate diffusion [6]. Solid material
adsorption process also did not dealing with metal
corrosion problem compared with chemical absorption
process. Solid material adsorption process has been
selected for the next discussion due to its promising
advantages.
Solid Materials CO2 Separation
The used of solid materials as an adsorbent for CO 2
separation has been applied in adsorption and membrane
separation processes. The porous solid materials superior
to fluid based in CO 2 separation with the ability of
materials properties modification by impregnating of
active group. Researchers are now improving the
structure of the solid materials and combined with other
good materials for enhancing the CO2 adsorption and
diffusion processes inside the adsorbent.
Porous membrane, activated carbon, zeolite and
silica particle are those example of most understanding
solid materials for CO2 separation. Those solid materials
have porous characteristic which is suitable adsorbent for
carbon capture. The other crucial characteristic of solid
adsorbent for CO2 separation are low cost materials, low
heat capacity, fast kinetics, high CO2 adsorption and high
selectivity for good carbon capture [6].
A. Membrane as microporous materials for carbon
capture
Membrane is defined as semi-permeable thin sheet that
allow certain molecules to pass through it. The molecules
that passes through membrane are called permeate and
remained molecules as retentate. Membrane structure
with characteristic of high porosity, high hydrophobicity,
small pore size are promising for good separation
performance [9]. The performance of membranes are
based on high permeability and selectivity of selected
molecules that passes through it [3]. The molecules
adsorption rate are based on the type of membrane.
Figure 5 show the mechanism of the molecules
adsorption via the membrane structure.
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.5 (2015)
Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm
Fig. 5: Membrane Molecule Adsorption Mechanism
The development and improvement of membrane structure for
carbon capture are now getting attention because of its simple
operational, low pollution and low energy consumption. The
improve developments are focused towards high CO2
permeability and selectivity of the membrane. Researchers are
now come out with the development of new modified membrane
structure to overcome membrane process limitation for better CO2
separation.
There are several membrane process limitations such as
occurrence of plasticization during the separation process,
limitation of CO2 transportation inside membrane structure and
less CO2 separation at high pressure and temperature. In general,
the addition of additive into polymer solution result in different
improvement of membrane structure especially on the strength
and plasticization. The crosslinking polymer of polyimide with
pendant piperazinium has improve the plasticization problem.
This crosslinking combination had shown excellent thermal,
mechanical and chemical stabilities and tolerance to
plasticization. This promising properties had displayed high CO 2
permeability of 475.5 Barrer together with high permselectivity
[8].
On the other hand, in order for improving CO 2
transportation in membrane structure, the modified of membrane
polyvinylamine (PVAm) has been conducted. Modified PVAm by
coating small molecule amine on polysulfone greatly facilitate
CO2 transportation in membrane structure and shown high of CO 2
separation performance [10]. Meanwhile, the introduction of
zeolite membrane has improve the CO 2 separation at high
pressure. The introduction of zeolite membrane, microporous
aluminaphosphate (AIPOs) has improve CO2 separation at high
pressure of 2 MPa feed pressure [11]. For improving CO2
separation process at high temperature, the development of
inorganic membrane had been introduced. The development of
ion conducting perovskite and carbonate composite electrolyte
hollow fibre membrane used for overcoming the problem. This
combination had shown the CO2 separation at high temperature at
maximum of 900C and the membrane layer much thinner
compared with previously [12].
In conclusion, the introduction of other materials with
membrane for improving the membrane structure limitations. The
membrane structure for CO2 separation had been developed in
order to overcome the limitations during the separation process.
B. Activated carbon as solid material to capture CO2
Activated carbon is a porous material that consists of highly
adsorptive fine pore form of carbon for impurities removing,
separation and extraction application. Activated carbon possess
some advantages characteristics such as high thermal stability,
large surface area, good pore size distribution, porosimetric
structure and low cost. However, activated carbon possesses some
141
limitations such as low of CO2 capacity adsorbed at mild
condition and negatively impacted the CO2 separation
process by the presence of NOX, SOX and H2O [3].
Molecules adsorption in activated carbon is
illustrated in Fig. 6. Molecules in gas or liquid will
attached physically onto activated carbon surface pores
via three adsorption steps. At first, the molecule will
moved through macropore system, followed by
movement through mesopore and lastly at micropore
system. The physical attachment will occurred at
mesopore and micropore of activated carbon.
Fig. 6: Molecule Adsorption onto Activated Carbon [13]
The development of activated carbon for high CO2
separation has been reported using various approaches as
tabulated in Table 2.
TABLE.2. Development of Activated Carbon for CO2
Separation
Modified Description Ref.
Activated Carbon
Biomass derived CO2 adsorption has linear relationship [14]
ACs (termed bio- with ultra-micropore (0.7nm) of AC
AC) development and ash in biomass-derived AC has a
positive effect adsorption
Electrothermal Sorbent used for electrothermal swing [15]
swing adsorption adsorption (ESA) to have good
(ESA) with adsorption and desorption. Activated
activated carbon carbon fibre materials have attractive
fibre materials characteristics, such as large surface
area and micropore volume.
Activated carbons AC from synthetic materials get [16]
from melamine- high attention which can absorbed high
modified phenol amount of CO2 and could be
formaldehyde repeatedly used at atmospheric
resins pressure
Synthetic activatedSynthetic AC obtained from mixture of [17]
carbon coal tar pitch and furfural. AC shows
microporous strucrure and basic
characters which suitable for CO2
capture
Combining ionicPotential ionic liquid immobilize onto [18]
liquid withactivated carbon for CO2 separation
activated carbon due to promising of great dispersion.
Combination AC with amino-acid
based ionic liquid, [Emin][Gly]IL
improve CO2 separation performance.
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.5 (2015)
Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

Solid and Cell Integration for CO2 Removal

Recently, carbon capture integrated with biological
The derivation of synthetic activated carbon had improved the catalyst become new area of interest to the researchers.
structure and sorption properties of solid materials while the The implementation of enzyme carbonic anhydrase is an
combination of activated carbon with ionic liquid shown a good alternative for environmentally practices. Carbonic
molecules dispersion and improve carbon capture. Modification anhydrase (CA) is a biocatalyst that catalyze reversible
of activated carbon characteristic and process combination with hydration reaction of CO2. This enzyme consist of zinc
other materials give a positive impact towards capture of CO 2. ion active site, efficiently catalyze CO2 hydration
Activated carbon as one of the excellent promising adsorbent for reaction [24], [25]. The introduction of this CA enzyme
CO2 separation. has improved the carbon capture process at a specific
condition. The mechanism reaction of CO2 hydration
C. Zeolite and silica as catalyst for solid material to capture CO2 reaction catalyzed by CA enzyme is illustrated in Fig. 7.
Zeolites can be describe as microporous crystalline
aluminasilicate which used as commercial adsorbent and
catalysts. The presence of alkali cation enables of zeolite to
absorb acid gas such as CO2 and favorable for adsorption process
[3]. The development of mesoporous silica as a catalyst show a
good potential for CO2 capture since silica particle possess great
stability, low toxicity and ability to function with wider range of
polymers. The application of zeolites and silica particles in CO 2
separation are mostly with membrane combination for separation Fig. 7: Mechanism reaction of CO2 hydration reaction
enhancement. [26]
The advantages of silica particle as a good material is the
formation of gas hydrate in silica pores for enhancing CO2 The advantages of enzyme application in CO 2
adsorption process [19]. While, Zhu et. al was introduced hybrid separation process is increase the CO2 absorption rate
sorbent material of ionic liquid modified porous silica for into solution and promising environmental friendly
improving limitation of high viscosity of ionic liquid (IL) [20]. approach. The immobilization or attachment of CA onto
Combination of silica particle and zeolite with other material for support materials has improving the CA enzyme activity,
structure improvement is shown in Table 3. stability and half life enzyme towards high CO2
separation process compared to the free cell. The
TABLE.3. Silica and Zeolite Development for Separation nonporous carrier is suitable for enzyme immobilization
compared to porous support. This is because, nonporous
Solid MaterialsDescription Ref. support offer a large external surface area for enzyme
Development attachment [24].
There are many types of materials that can be
Mixed matrix Incorporating inorganic silica [21] used as support materials or carrier for CA enzyme
membranes nanoparticles into blends of attachment such as silica particle, mesoporous an
(MMMs) polysulfone/polyimide (PSF/PI) and this activated carbon. Silica nanoparticle is one of nonporous
hybrid blends show improvement in material which offer an increasing of immobilized CA
thermal stability and reduce enzyme activity 3 times and half life of 4.4 times over 30
plasticization. days [24]. Meanwhile, the immobilized CA enzyme onto
Mesoporous The mesoporous silica/carbon [22] mesoporous aluminasilicates support material also shown
silica/carbon composite membranes exhibit an the improvement. The immobilized CA enzyme retained
composite excellent gas separation performance in its activity more than 50% of its initial activity compared
membranes terms of CO2 gas permeability and with free enzyme which only retained 20% of its initial.
selectivity The CA half life also last longer for 600h rather than free
Thin zeolite Resultant zeolite/carbon composite [23] enzyme, only for 360h at 25C [27].
T/carbon membrane combines the advantages of Similar with mesoporous aluminasilicates, CA
composite the carbon membrane and zeolite immobilized onto activated carbon had also improved the
membranes contents shows best separation enzyme properties. The immobilized enzyme activity
performance retained 60% of its initial activity after 90 days at 25C
compare to free, only retained 30% [16]. Besides the
improvement of enzyme activity and half life,
The development of the membrane integrated with zeolite and immobilization also had improved enzyme storage
silica capable to enhance the membrane structure, and stability and carbon capture efficiency. The CA
consequently improve CO2 separation process. With this finding, immobilized onto mesoporous SBA-15 had improve
the limitation on the conventional membrane can be overcome. carbon capture efficiency by 25 fold higher that free
enzyme, while the enzyme storage stability retained 87%
of its activity after 30 days [26].

142
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.5 (2015)
Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm
In conclusion, the porous properties of material support
is a crucial factor for selecting the best carrier for enzyme
immobilization. The immobilization of CA enzyme onto solid
materials as a carrier had significantly improved the properties of
CA enzyme such as enzyme stability, half life, carbon capture
efficiency and enzyme storage stability.
Conclusion
The adsorption process of carbon capture by using solid materials
had shown advantages compared with the absorption process
using solvent. The improvement development of solid material
had increasing the carbon capture capacity for better separation
process. In recent years, carbon capture integrated with the
biological catalyst of carbonic anhydrase become new area of
interest to the researchers. This is an alternative for carbon
capture technology which implemented environmentally
practices. This application of biological introduction has increase
the CO2 separation process, towards greener approaches.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledgement to Universiti Teknologi
MARA UITM for technically supporting this research and high
appreciation to (600-RMI/FRGS 5/3(148/2014)) for financial
support
References
[1] M. K. Mondal, H. K. Balsora, and P. Varshney, Progress
and trends in CO2 capture/separation technologies: A
review, Energy, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 431441, Oct. 2012.
[2] D. Y. C. Leung, G. Caramanna, and M. M. Maroto-Valer,
An overview of current status of carbon dioxide capture
and storage technologies, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev.,
vol. 39, pp. 426443, Nov. 2014.
[3] B. P. Spigarelli and S. K. Kawatra, Opportunities and
challenges in carbon dioxide capture, J. CO2 Util., vol. 1,
pp. 6987, Jun. 2013.
[4] J. Huang, A. Rosamilia, H. Liu, J. Jeffery, and C.
Scientific, Development of novel ionic liquids to capture
CO 2, no. July 2011, 2012.
[5] M. Hasib-ur-Rahman, M. Siaj, and F. Larachi, CO 2
capture in alkanolamine/room-temperature ionic liquid
emulsions: A viable approach with carbamate
crystallization and curbed corrosion behavior, Int. J.
Greenh. Gas Control, vol. 6, pp. 246252, Jan. 2012.
[6] C. Yu, C. Huang, and C. Tan, A Review of CO 2 Capture
by Absorption and Adsorption, pp. 745769, 2012.
[7] S. Wang, Z. Tian, J. Feng, H. Wu, Y. Li, Y. Liu, X. Li, Q.
Xin, and Z. Jiang, Enhanced CO2 separation properties
by incorporating poly(ethylene glycol)-containing
143
polymeric submicrospheres into polyimide
membrane, J. Memb. Sci., vol. 473, pp. 310
317, Jan. 2015.
[8] I. Kammakakam, H. Wook Yoon, S. Nam, H.
Bum Park, and T.-H. Kim, Novel piperazinium-
mediated crosslinked polyimide membranes for
high performance CO2 separation, J. Memb.
Sci., vol. 487, pp. 9098, Aug. 2015.
[9] M. Rezaei, A. F. Ismail, S. A. Hashemifard, G.
Bakeri, and T. Matsuura, International Journal
of Greenhouse Gas Control Experimental study
on the performance and long-term stability of
PVDF / montmorillonite hollow fiber mixed
matrix membranes for CO2 separation process,
Int. J. Greenh. Gas Control, vol. 26, pp. 147
157, 2014.
[10] Z. Qiao, Z. Wang, S. Yuan, J. Wang, and S.
Wang, Preparation and characterization of small
molecular amine modified PVAm membranes for
CO2/H2 separation, J. Memb. Sci., vol. 475, pp.
290302, Feb. 2015.
[11] T. Wu, B. Wang, Z. Lu, R. Zhou, and X. Chen,
Alumina-supported AlPO-18 membranes for
CO2/CH4 separation, J. Memb. Sci., vol. 471, pp.
338346, Dec. 2014.
[12] S. Zhuang, Y. Li, M. Zuo, X. Tan, B. Meng, N.
Yang, and S. Liu, Dense composite electrolyte
hollow fibre membranes for high temperature
CO2 separation, Sep. Purif. Technol., vol. 132,
pp. 712718, Aug. 2014.
[13] Adsorption. [Online]. Available:
http://www.chemistrylearning.com/adsorption/.
[14] G. Yin, Z. Liu, Q. Liu, and W. Wu, The role of
different properties of activated carbon in CO2
adsorption, Chem. Eng. J., vol. 230, pp. 133
140, Aug. 2013.
[15] H. An, B. Feng, and S. Su, CO2 capture by
electrothermal swing adsorption with activated
carbon fibre materials, Int. J. Greenh. Gas
Control, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1625, Jan. 2011.
[16] R. Tseng, F. Wu, and R. Juang, Adsorption of
CO2 at atmospheric pressure on activated carbons
prepared from melamine-modified phenol
formaldehyde resins, Sep. Purif. Technol., vol.
140, pp. 5360, 2015.
[17] M. Balsamo, T. Budinova, A. Erto, A. Lancia, B.
Petrova, N. Petrov, and B. Tsyntsarski, CO2
adsorption onto synthetic activated carbon:
Kinetic , thermodynamic and regeneration
studies, Sep. Purif. Technol., vol. 116, pp. 214
221, 2013.
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.5 (2015)
Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

[18] A. Erto, A. Silvestre-Albero, J. Silvestre-Albero, F.

Rodrguez-Reinoso, M. Balsamo, A. Lancia, and F.
Montagnaro, Carbon-supported ionic liquids as
innovative adsorbents for CO separation from synthetic
flue-gas., J. Colloid Interface Sci., vol. 448, pp. 4150,
Jun. 2015.

[19] S. Kang, J. Lee, and Y. Seo, Pre-combustion capture of

CO2 by gas hydrate formation in silica gel pore structure,
Chem. Eng. J., vol. 218, pp. 126132, 2013.

[20] J. Zhu, F. Xin, J. Huang, X. Dong, and H. Liu,

Adsorption and diffusivity of CO2 in phosphonium ionic
liquid modified silica, Chem. Eng. J., vol. 246, pp. 79
87, Jun. 2014.

[21] S. Rafiq, Z. Man, A. Maulud, N. Muhammad, and S.

Maitra, Separation of CO2 from CH4 using
polysulfone/polyimide silica nanocomposite membranes,
Sep. Purif. Technol., vol. 90, pp. 162172, Apr. 2012.

[22] L. Li, T. Wang, Q. Liu, Y. Cao, and J. Qiu, A high CO 2

permselective mesoporous silica/carbon composite
membrane for CO2 separation, Carbon N. Y., vol. 50, no.
14, pp. 51865195, Nov. 2012.

[23] X. Yin, N. Chu, J. Yang, J. Wang, and Z. Li, Thin zeolite

T/carbon composite membranes supported on the porous
alumina tubes for CO2 separation, Int. J. Greenh. Gas
Control, vol. 15, pp. 5564, Jul. 2013.

[24] S. Zhang, Y. Lu, and X. Ye, Catalytic behavior of

carbonic anhydrase enzyme immobilized onto nonporous
silica nanoparticles for enhancing CO2 absorption into a
carbonate solution, Int. J. Greenh. Gas Control, vol. 13,
pp. 1725, Mar. 2013.

[25] P. C. Sahoo, Y.-N. Jang, and S.-W. Lee, Immobilization

of carbonic anhydrase and an artificial Zn(II) complex on
a magnetic support for biomimetic carbon dioxide
sequestration, J. Mol. Catal. B Enzym., vol. 82, pp. 37
45, Oct. 2012.

[26] M. Vinoba, M. Bhagiyalakshmi, S. K. Jeong, Y. I. Yoon,

and S. C. Nam, Immobilization of carbonic anhydrase on
spherical SBA-15 for hydration and sequestration of
CO2., Colloids Surf. B. Biointerfaces, vol. 90, pp. 916,
Feb. 2012.

144