Keynotes
José Antonio Delgado Dobladez
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid
Hybrid Membrane-PSA Systems for Hydrogen Recovery from Ammonia Cracking and CO2 Capture from Flue Gas
Biography
Mirjana Minceva
Technical University of Munich, Munich
New possibilities with liquid stationary phases
Biography
Hybrid membrane-PSA systems can be advantageous over systems based on only one of these technologies for performing bulk gas separations. In this work the performances of hybrid membrane-PSA systems for hydrogen recovery from ammonia cracking and CO2 capture from flue gas are evaluated and compared with the one of single PSA processes, by simulation with PSASIM® software.
In liquid-liquid chromatography, centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC), and countercurrent chromatography (CCC), the mobile phase and the stationary phase are the two phases of a liquid biphasic system composed of two or more solvents. The stationary phase is held in place during operation by the application of centrifugal force in a specially designed column. Separation of a sample mixture is achieved due to the different distribution of the solutes between the two liquid phases. Either phase of the biphasic solvent system, the upper or the lower phase, may be used as the stationary phase. The roles of the phases and flow direction may be switched during a separation run, giving rise to various operating modes not otherwise realizable with solid stationary phases (adsorbents). These features, combined with the nearly limitless choice of solvents, make the technology extremely versatile and allow for the creation of tailor-made biphasic liquid systems, i.e., tailor-made mobile and stationary phases. This high operational flexibility renders centrifugal partition chromatography highly adaptable to different separation tasks. This talk will cover recent developments in liquid-liquid chromatography, focusing on process design and optimization using a model-based approach with the perspective “from molecule to process”.
Youssef Belmabkout
ACER CoE, Morocco
Quest of porous materials via the valorization of organic and inorganic Wastes
Biography
The large-scale production of a variety of end products, such as energy, electronics, fertilizers, etc. has led to a dramatic increase in the number and size of several industries, which then generate hazardous pollutants that are all too often released into the surrounding environment. Increasing levels of pollution is driving the research community to discover new ways to capture toxic pollutants from industrial waste streams and also to valorize industrial waste through the subsequent production of valuable commodities. One way to valorize waste products is to convert them into functional materials. Among the various useful products that can be synthesized from waste, the preparation of porous physical adsorbents has attracted recent attention. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), mesoporous silicas, and zeolites are among the various functional solid-state sorbents that have shown huge promise for many industrially relevant applications. However, overcoming obstacles ahead, such as the difficulty of producing those porous sorbents at a scale due to the high cost of the precursors used to assemble them is critical. Preparing porous materials from waste sources could help to overcome the sustainable production challenge while simultaneously valorizing the waste and addressing environmental concerns. In this work, the transformation of phosphogypsum, solid waste products generated in huge amounts from the different value chains of the phosphate industry, into advanced Ca-MOFs and zeolites, as well as the simultaneous valorization of tannery effluents and waste plastic bottles into water adsorbing Cr-terephthalate MOFs. The combination of tannery effluent and organic linker extracted from waste plastic bottles led to a successful assembly of Cr-terephthalate (Cr-BDC) MOFs with potential application for water related applications. The structural attributes of the prepared porous sorbents and their performance in different applications were confirmed by various techniques including XRD, SEM-EDX, FTIR, TGA-DSC-MS, TEM, NMR, ICP-OES, N2 sorption at cryogenic conditions, CO2 sorption at different temperatures, and room temperature water, methanol, and ethanol sorption analyses. The advances made in this study represent significant progress in (i) applying sustainability principles and pave the way for circular economy targets and (ii) in pavin the way to scale of adsorbents from different families of solid state materials
Traditional refrigerants, known for their high Global Warming Potential (GWP), are being phased out from most applications. This research explores their potential use in adsorption-based energy storage systems. By combining micro- and mesoporous materials with refrigerants and evaluating their performance in energy storage, we aim to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms and identify more sustainable alternatives. One of the alternatives being considered is the use of blended refrigerants. This work focuses on the challenges of assessing and predicting the behavior of classical refrigerants, such as the crucial role of defined interactions and molecular models in the simulation. Additionally, it assesses the impact of postprocessing models and data analysis on performance indicators, providing insights into the efficiency and behavior of refrigerants-materials pairs. This research aims to evaluate the energy storage potential of blended refrigerants in porous materials with the ultimate goal of minimizing the environmental impact of refrigeration systems and establishing key performance indicators that contribute to the development of more sustainable solutions.
Biogas is a sustainable source of energy that can be used to produce electricity but that can also be used for decarbonizing transportation. The emissions related to the transportation sector is 24% of total CO2 emissions and is a difficult sector to decarbonize as there are multiple source points. Bio-methane has the potential to have a significant share of this market.
Adsorption in general is a very suitable technique to assist in the production of bio-methane. Adsorption processes are available to remove contaminants from biogas like siloxanes, H2S and other minor molecules (biogas conditioning). Moreover, pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a state-of-the-art technology for biogas upgrading (bulk removal of CO2). In recent years, adsorbent materials have also been used for enhanced storage of bio-methane. Indeed, using a suitable material in a storage tank, the pressure of bio-methane can be significantly reduced with tremendous impact in weight reduction of the storage tank.
In this work, we present recent developments in PSA technology for biogas upgrading, specifically in the deployment of new PSA cycles for different users depending on production volumes. We also introduce a new approach to make carbon-based monoliths for storage of bio-methane with tailored porosity with minimal impact in gas diffusion. An example of the produced monolith is shown in Figure 1. Our ultimate objective is to demonstrate that adsorption technologies can have a significant role in transitioning to sustainable mobility in different regions of the planet.