Metal Organic Frameworks in Carbon Capture Applications

Abstract

The main cause of global climatic change is carbon dioxide emissions of industries and burning of fossil fuels. Carbon capture technologies are thus the way to go in order to mitigate the levels of carbon in the atmosphere. Metal Organic Frameworks are crystalline porous materials made of metal nodes and organic connectors, and which have very high surface area and tuneable structure of pores. These properties render them very promising to the selective adsorption of carbon dioxide. This paper examines synthesis, characterization, and adsorption of carbon dioxide using three Metal Organic Framework materials, i.e., MOF one hundred and seventy seven, ZIF eight, and HKUST one. Solvothermal synthesis procedures have been used and the structure and adsorption characteristics of the products were characterized using nitrogen adsorption analysis and volumetric uptake of carbon dioxide. The findings reveal that MOF one hundred seventy seven has the most adsorption capacity because of large pore volume and surface area whereas ZIF eight is more stable in humid environments. The studies on regeneration show that there is a small loss of capacity during 5 adsorption desorption cycles. The results verify that inadequately modified Metal Organic Frameworks offer great promise to the industrial carbon capture solutions, but scaling and moisture stability are still the major issues.