Das Projekt "Study of adsorption-based carbon dioxide capture and storage systems under wet conditions" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Institut für Verfahrenstechnik durchgeführt. In order to be able to sustainably use fossil fuels as an energy source, various techniques are being considered to capture the carbon dioxide produced in combustion and sequester it or otherwise prevent it from being released into the atmosphere. Several of these techniques involve the adsorption of gases, especially CO2, to adsorbent solid materials, either as a means of separating gases from each other, or as a storage mechanism (e.g. in coal seams). In all cases of interest, moisture is present, affecting the adsorption of gases in ways that are not fully understood yet. This project will study the interaction of CO2 and the other gases involved (nitrogen, hydrogen, methane depending on the specific application) with different adsorbents in the presence of water. Adsorption plays a role in the capture of carbon dioxide as a technique to separate the greenhouse gas from other gases. This can be done in pre-combustion capture, where the CO2 has to be separated from hydrogen, usually by pressure swing adsorption (PSA) on activated carbon or zeolites; or it can be done by post-combustion capture, where the CO2 is separated from the rest of the flue gas, mainly nitrogen. This is typically done by temperature swing adsorption (TSA) on activated carbon. Another application involves adsorption as a way of extracting carbon dioxide directly from ambient air In the area of carbon dioxide storage, adsorption is significant when the carbon dioxide is to be used for enhanced coal bed methane recovery (ECBM). In this application, CO2 is injected into coal seams as a displacer for methane adsorbed into the pores in the coal. This is an attractive option to store CO2, as it enhances methane production at the same time. The capacity of coal for carbon dioxide has consistently been higher for carbon dioxide than for methane, leading to a net storage of carbon dioxide. Both systems for CO2 capture and for storage have been the subjects of study, but the effect that water has on these systems has yet to be investigated in detail. The scientific questions that are to be addressed with this project are (1) how to characterize the role of water on CO2 adsorption, (2) how to understand and describe it, and (3) how to use this knowledge to overcome or to exploit the effect of water in order to design better separation processes.