MONASH
INNOVATION
PELLETIZED ADSORBENTS AND THEIR
PRODUCTION FOR CO2 CAPTURE
Pelletized adsorbents for CO2 capture. The adsorbents are produced with phase transformationassisted pelletisation resulting in a product that is robust, non-volatile and water tolerant, also
overcoming the current problem of ‘stickiness’.

Robust, non-volatile and water
tolerant

CO2 capacities akin to analogous
powdered sorbent

Overcomes the problem of
‘stickiness’

Appropriate for pressure and
temperature swing adsorption
industrial gas separation processes
THE CHALLENGE
Capture of gases such as CO2 is an area of
significant interest globally. A range of
adsorbents have been trialled or are in use,
such as those based on amine-type sorbents.
Due to physical constraints such as the
extrusion, tackiness and agglomeration of
powdered composites, production of some
pelletized amine (PEI) type sorbents has been
a failure, problematic until now.
Our scientists have developed a new method
to produce pellets via compression from
amine type composites, without additional
binder.
This new technology offers a method to
produce a pelletized form of a porous
support material for gas separation
applications.
It involves a new process to compress
mesocellular siliceous foam (MCF) loaded
with polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a solid
sorbent for CO2 capture.
This pelletization technique doesn’t make
use of any binder, and CO2 capture relies
on the well- known technical sorbent
capacity and features of the composites.
Proof of concept has been demonstrated
by the researchers who repeatedly
prepared MCF-PEI pellets that effectively
absorb CO2 up to 9 wt% via simulated TSA
processing and up to 4 wt% via simulated
PSA from flue gas (15% CO2).
We have a clear understanding of the
extrusion issues encountered when
compressing such composites and the
problems faced by post combustion
capture of CO2 from gas streams.
Intellectual property: PCT application
PCT/AU2014/050376 claims the method
for MCF-PEI and associated composites
for gas sorption, notably CO2 centrifugation
and polymer flocculation.
THE TECHNOLOGY
The current technology has been developed
for CO2 capture. Pellets could therefore be
used:

In post-combustion capture of CO2 from
flue gas streams

In conjunction with industrial gas
separation process technologies such
as pressure swing adsorption (PSA),
and temperature swing adsorption (TSA)
The method can also be adapted for gas
adsorption pellet production in the
pharmaceuticals or agrochemicals sectors and
the food industry.
Figure 1: MCF-PEI sorbent in powdered (left) and
pellet (right) form as prepared via a commercial
pellet press.
Figure 2: Comparison between powder and pellet
forms for reversible adsorption by VSA and by TSA
at 105°C (0-2- 5-15-30-50-30-15-5-2-0 % CO /Ar).
THE OPPORTUNITY
We seek a commercial partner to license
and further develop this technology.
Prof Alan Chaffee and Dr Gregory Knowles
are the lead scientists on the project and
offer significant experience in this area.
References
1. Knowles & Chaffee – Paper accepted for
publication in book/cd of Proceedings of the
Cleantech 2014 conference.
2. Knowles et al – Chapter 9 in “Recent
Advances in Post Combustion Capture
Chemistry”, ACS pubs, 2012.
KEY CONTACT
Julian Vultaggio
Business Development Associate
Monash Science
T: +61 3 9905 5007
E: [email protected]
CRICOS provider: Monash University 00008C
Produced by Monash Innovation: June 2016