Rapid and intensified screening of a carbon capture adsorbent using a 3D-printed swirling fluidised bed

Carbon capture (CC) will play a predominant role in decarbonising the energy, industry, and transportation sectors short to medium timeframes meet 2050 Net Zero target. Adsorption is promising CC technology that uses solid-adsorbents rather than liquid-absorbents strip CO2 from flue gas streams. In this study we developed small-scale platform for screening adsorbents 3D-printed toroidal fluidised bed (TORBED) reactor intensify gas–solid mixing. Here tested performance of commercial sorbent (based on branched polyethyleneimine, BPEI) capturing artificial streams comprised different N2/CO2 mixtures. Breakthrough curves were subsequently collected variety volume fractions (2–20 vol%), BPEI loads (1–2.5 g), flow rates (20–35 L/min), temperatures (40–70 °C). A high capacity 2.64 ± 0.06 mmol/g was observed TORBED experiments lasting no more 10 s. The rapid speed which data represents potential throughput screening. By monitoring temperature during each experiment, also inferred heat transfer mini-TORBED minimises adsorption influence kinetics.