Optimization of the structural characteristics of CaO and its effective stabilization yield high-capacity CO<sub>2</sub> sorbents.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29921929.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-04794-5 and PMC identifier 6008298.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Calcium looping, a CO2 capture technique, may offer a mid-term if not near-term solution to mitigate climate change, triggered by the yet increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions. A key requirement for the economic operation of calcium looping is the availability of highly effective CaO-based CO2 sorbents. Here we report a facile synthesis route that yields hollow, MgO-stabilized, CaO microspheres featuring highly porous multishelled morphologies. As a thermal stabilizer, MgO minimized the sintering-induced decay of the sorbents' CO2 capacity and ensured a stable CO2 uptake over multiple operation cycles. Detailed electron microscopy-based analyses confirm a compositional homogeneity which is identified, together with the characteristics of its porous structure, as an essential feature to yield a high-performance sorbent. After 30 cycles of repeated CO2 capture and sorbent regeneration, the best performing material requires as little as 11 wt.% MgO for structural stabilization and exceeds the CO2 uptake of the limestone-derived reference material by ~500%.