High CO adsorption capacity, and CO selectivity to CO2, N2, H2, and CH4 of CuCl/bayerite adsorbent

We synthesized nanoporous CO-selective adsorbent composed of CuCl supported on bayerite. Before supporting the CuCl, the bayerite chemical was calcined at 623 K to increase the surface area to 469 m2 g−1. The CuCl was highly dispersed on the activated bayerite via a thermal monolayer dispersion process. The highest CO adsorption capacity was achieved at an optimal temperature of 573 K and CuCl content of 30 wt%. Thus synthesized adsorbent exhibited a high CO adsorption capacity of 48.5 cm3 g−1 at 293 K, but a very low CO2 adsorption capacity (2.89 cm3 g−1), resulting in CO/CO2 separation factor of 16.8. When the CuCl content increased to 36 wt%, the adsorbent exhibited much higher separation factor (35.5), although the CO adsorption capacity was somewhat smaller (41.6 cm3 g−1). The CO adsorption capacity and CO/CO2 selectivity of this adsorbent are larger than those of our previous CuCl/boehmite adsorbent showing CO adsorption of 34 cm3 g−1 and a CO/CO2 separation factor of 12.4. The present adsorbent also shows very high selectivity for CO over H2, N2, and CH4. Therefore, this adsorbent is expected to show excellent CO separation performance for various industrial processes such as steam-reforming and steel-making which involve CO, CO2, H2, N2, and CH4.