Adsorption-based CO 2 capture has enjoyed considerable research attention in recent years. Most of the research efforts focused on sorbent development to reduce the energy penalty. However, the use of suitable gas−solid contacting systems is key for extracting the full potential from the sorbent to minimize operating and capital costs and accelerate the commercial deployment of the technology. This paper reviews several reactor configurations that were proposed for adsorptionbased CO 2 capture. The fundamental behavior of adsorption in different gas−solid contactors (fixed, fluidized, moving, or rotating beds) and regeneration under different modes (pressure, temperature, or combined swings) is discussed, highlighting the strengths and limitations of different combinations of gas−solid contactor and regeneration mode. In addition, the estimated energy duties in published studies and current technology readiness level of the different reactor configurations are reported. Other aspects, such as the reactor footprint, the operation strategy, suitability to retrofits, and the ability to operate under flexible loads are also discussed. In terms of future work, the key research need is a standardized techno-economic benchmarking study to calculate CO 2 avoidance costs for different adsorption technologies under standardized assumptions. Qualitatively, each technology presents several strengths and weaknesses that make it impossible to identify a clear optimal solution. Such a standardized quantitative comparison is therefore needed to focus on future technology development efforts.

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This paper reports the experimental demonstration of the novel swing adsorption reactor cluster (SARC) concept in a multistage fluidized bed reactor with inbuilt heat-transfer surfaces for postcombustion CO2 capture at a capacity up to 24 kg-CO2/day. SARC employs combined temperature and vacuum swings (VTSA), driven by heat and vacuum pumps, to regenerate the solid sorbent after CO2 capture. The laboratory-scale reactor utilized a vacuum pump and a heating oil loop (emulating the heat pump) to demonstrate 90% CO2 capture from an N2/CO2 mixture approximating a coal power plant flue gas fed at 200 NL/min. In addition, dedicated experiments demonstrated three important features required for the success of the SARC concept: (1) the polyethyleneimine sorbent employed imposes no kinetic limitations in CO2 adsorption (referred to as carbonation) and only minor nonidealities in regeneration, (2) a high heat-transfer coefficient in the range of 307–489 W/m2 K is achieved on the heat transfer surfaces inside the reactor, and (3) perforated plate separators inserted along the height of the reactor can achieve the plug-flow characteristics required for high CO2 capture efficiency. Finally, sensitivity analysis revealed the expected improvements in CO2 capture efficiency with increased pressure and temperature swings and shorter carbonation times, demonstrating predictable behavior of the SARC reactor. This study provides a sound basis for further scale-up of the SARC concept.

Filtered Two Fluid Models (fTFMs) aim to enable accurate industrial-scale simulations of fluidized beds by means of closures accounting for the effects of bubbles and clusters. The present study aims to improve anisotropic closures for the drift velocity, which is the primary sub-grid effect altering the filtered drag force, by deriving increasingly complex closures by considering additional independent variables (markers). Three different anisotropic closures, as well as an isotropic closure, are evaluated. A priori tests revealed a significant increase in the predictive capability of the closures as the complexity, in terms of the number of markers considered, increases. However, this improvement is relatively small when compared to the effect of considering anisotropy. Next, a posteriori tests were completed by comparing coarse-grid simulations of bubbling, turbulent and core-annular fluidization against benchmark resolved TFM simulations. This analysis shows good performance of all anisotropic closures, with negligible to minor effects of increasing the drag closure's complexity by considering additional markers. On the other hand, the isotropic closure lacks generality and shows poor grid independence behaviour. It is therefore concluded that it is essential to include important physical effects, such as anisotropy, in fTFM closures, while complexity in terms of the number of markers considered is of lesser importance.

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